Gray Flame
by gamerprincess13
Summary: AU. Characters Human. Silver: the nicest and popular guy in school. Blaze: the new girl who never had any friends. Their lives are going to change forever and it all started with a game of dodgeball. Silvaze. Other Pairings: Sonamy. Kunxouge. Taiream. And more in the future.
1. Dodgeball

Walking through the crowded hallways of Emerald High School, Barbara Jewel searched for her Chemistry class while avoiding the students staring at her oddly, like she's from another planet. It's not her looks: mid-long lavender hair with a small ponytail tied to the back, amber-gold eyes and slightly tanned skin. It's not the way she dresses: dark purple long sleeved shirt, white pants and magenta high heels. But the reason people are staring at her is...

"Look! It's the new girl that got kicked out in her old school!" one girl called out.

Overhearing that harsh comment, Barbara stopped walking and turned around to see two girls chatting with each other near some lockers. She hid behind a full trashcan to avoid getting spotted, and decided to hear their conversation.

"You mean Barbara Jewel, Sally?" another girl asked.

"The one and only freaky girl, Mina," Sally replied to her friend.

"How did she get kicked out?"

"Simple. She burned the cafeteria for no reason."

"Really?"

"She isn't called 'Blaze' at her old school for nothing. And I heard that she can burn you if you manage to get her-"

Not wanting to hear the disgusting gossip, Barbara kicked a nearby trashcan to the two gossiping girls with tremendous force, causing them to runaway before the bucket full of trash can crash into them into a locker. Sally and Mina, who were gossiping about Barbara, immediately sprinted out of the hallway, fearing that she'll burn them for making up ridiculous rumors about her.

That's the reason why people were staring at her so weirdly. Not the rumors, but with the word 'burned' and that dumb nickname 'Blaze' put together, she possessed pyrokinesis (A.K.A. Ability to control fire). It seemed to be a cool ability on paper, but it doesn't seem to be a pleasant ability to have in reality when fire can destroy everything. Barbara, or Blaze as a lot of people call her nowadays, hated the fact she was born with this ability. Her parents always tells her that her pyrokinesis is a gift from God and she should be happy about it. But to Blaze...

"Fire a gift? More like a curse to me," she muttered under her breath as she continued walking to find her class, not knowing some students were running away in fear. She can even hear some of the words the students were saying.

"God, what a **freak** she is."

"She's such a **bitch**."

"How can they let a **monster** like her be in this school?"

It's only been two days since she attended Emerald High, and already people are calling her harsh names. The worst being 'Flaming Monster'. How she loathed people assuming she's heartless and mean when they don't even know her personally! And Blaze didn't get kicked out of her old school, she just transferred because her dad has a new job here as a Geometry teacher. That's why she's here in the first place.

Normally, names like 'monster' or 'freak' would stab someone in the heart, but Blaze learned how to ignore even the most malicious names throughout her life. She continued walking to her Chemistry class, and finally entered the classroom, taking her seat in the front while dropping her bag, like she always did in her old school.

When her backpack hit the floor, the classroom went from loud to dead silent, like if someone has recently died. They know Blaze is here. And if Blaze is here, they all thought she's going to kill them in a matter of seconds. The students who were just getting in the classroom spotted Blaze in the front of the class, immediately try to get as far away from her as possible to avoid getting killed by her. Those who sit either next to her or behind her pray that she won't notice them. Like Blaze would ever do that. She'd never. But thanks to the rumors, the students are just paranoid that Blaze will kill her with her flames. And with those rumors, no one dared to befriend Blaze or have a conversation with her.

And does it bother her? Nope.

Blaze prefers to be alone ever since Kindergarten. She once dreamed of making friends as a little girl, but with her 'curse' getting in the way, that dream flew away and decided to stop her efforts on making one friend. Having no friends has it's benefits for Blaze. For one, she doesn't have to deal with someone's problems, the worst being a break-up. She also doesn't have to be dragged by force to go somewhere she doesn't want to be, like shopping at the mall or attending any parties, mainly school dances. And the last being she has loads of free time after school, where she spends them going to her local library, doing her homework, reading a book, or helping around the house with her parents. It's really nice for Blaze.

BRIIINGG! The bell ringed, signaling that chemistry is starting for today, and Blaze pulled out her notebook to scribble notes about the Periodic Table and the important elements.

* * *

~5th Period: Gym~

In Gym class, Blaze just finished getting dressed into her gym clothes: a long sleeved purple hoodie going as far as to her belly button, purple and magenta yoga pants and black tennis shoes, and sat down on the back of the bleachers to wait on the other students who are taking so long just to get ready. While waiting, she witnessed two boys sticking their tongues and eyes at her in a disgusting manner, and only responded with a "Hmph." before turning her back away from them. However, the boys then went to where Blaze is, and did the same thing they did to her earlier, only up close in her face and making fun of her at the same time.

"You're such a **loser**, Flaming Monster!" one boy yelled at Blaze.

"Don't touch her or she'll use her **abnormal** powers to turn you into dinner!" another one pointed out to his friend.

"Eww. That's just **disgusting**. Wait, she's a **disgusting Flaming Monster**! That's what we should call her!"

"Yeah! That sounds good to me! It fits her perfectly!"

_Just ignore them, Barbara. _Blaze advised herself in her thoughts, _They'll go away eventually._

"Let's make that **Disgusting Flaming Monster **burst her flames!" the first boy decided.

"How?" the second one asked, curious.

"By making her suffer! That's how!"

"Great idea!"

The two boys cracked their knuckles while spitting at Blaze's face, not to mention suffer from their god awful breath, and ready to punch her at a time like this. However, before they had the chance to physically beat Blaze up, a hammer smacked the two boys in the head, sending them faraway and landing into the basketball hoops, stuck like glue.

"What the-" is what Blaze can only say, looking down to the ground. She's surprised that she isn't receiving the punch from the two and wondered who did that.

She then looked up to see who saved her from the two boys: A girl. That girl had short pink hair with a red headband, green eyes, peach skin, wearing a white and pink tank-top, pink work-out pants, and red and white sneakers. The pink-haired girl then asked Blaze, "Are you okay?"

Speechless that this girl talked to her, with a worried voice included, Blaze answered in an awkward tone, "Y... Yes. I'm fine."

"Good. Don't listen to those jerks. They just make fun of people because they're just wimps."

The pink-haired girl then sat next to Blaze, much to her dismay, and spin her hammer a few times until it was nothing but a small pink diamond heart. She placed the diamond heart on her headband and turned around to Blaze, who is looking at the ground once again. The pink-haired girl then cleared her throat, getting Blaze's attention, and the girl started the conversation by saying, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes," Blaze answered in a flat tone.

"Really? Because you don't sound okay to me."

"I just had a rough day."

"Why? What happened?"

Whoa.

When Blaze gives out the "I have a rough day" to anyone, the short conversation ends, but with this girl, she wants to know why. No one dared asked that question. Not even her parents! This is the first time Blaze gets to tell someone why her day was horrible.

She then answered the pink-haired girl, "People spreading rumors, calling me names, and constantly bothering and ignoring me just because I'm the new girl." in a casual tone, like it's no big deal to her.

"You're new to Emerald High?" the rose haired girl asked.

"About two days ago."

"Oh, wow! I'm sorry I didn't notice you in those days!"

"Huh?"

"Well, I should introduce myself. My name is Amy Rose, and I'm a sophomore! What's your name?"

Silence followed after that. Amy waited for Blaze to introduce herself, but it didn't happen.

"Uh... Hello?" Amy tried to call out. "Your name?"

"Why do you want to know?" Blaze questioned Amy in a harsh tone.

"So I can talk to you if we have classes together or say hi when we pass by through the hallways."

Well that's reasonable to Blaze. She'd never introduce herself to anyone unless she's required to, like in the first day she arrived at the school in two classes.

"I guess it's fine if-"

"Barbara," Blaze responded to Amy's previous question.

"Eh?" Amy slightly squeaked.

"My name is Barbara Jewel, and I'm a sophomore like you."

"Oh. Well it's nice to meet you, Barbara!"

"And some people call me 'Blaze' for some dumb reason," Blaze added.

"Why do people call you 'Blaze'?" asked Amy.

_Because I was born with pyrokinesis,_ is what Blaze wanted to respond with to answer Amy's question. But before she can actually answer, the buzzer from the electronic scoreboard ringed throughout the entire Gym, slightly scaring Blaze and getting a loud and girlish shriek from Amy. This buzzer means that Gym is actually starting and everyone should be done dressing up by the time the buzzer is done ringing.

"Dumb buzzer scaring me like that," said Amy, rubbing her ears to get the ringing sound out. "Only a year since I took P.E and I'm still not used to the buzzer! Annoying, right?"

Blaze only nodded her head in agreement as the coach came in to take attendance for a few minutes before he can announce what the class is going to do today. He later grabbed a bag full of newly pumped red balls, and guessing from the mixed cheers and groans from the class, it's a game Blaze knows very well.

"Today class, we're going to be playing dodgeball in two teams," the coach started his announcement. "And it's going to be a battle between the boys and the girls."

The boys cheered in excitement while most of the girls whined about getting their hairs or nails broken or complaining that the boys will dominate the game whenever a battle of the sexes goes on. Blaze, however, managed to pull out a small smile, knowing she can get back at the two boys who teased her earlier. She can just imagine the look on their faces once she knocks them out harshly with only one ball thrown at them. It's too great. Dodgeball is Blaze's favorite game to play, taking out her anger on other people while not unleashing her flames. Only drawback is she has to be in a team, but she can take on the boys on her own with the other girls dozing off from this extreme game.

Everybody jumped out of the bleachers and into the basketball court, the girls on the right, the boys on the left, and the coach blew his whistle while letting the bag go freely to release the red balls. Once the last ball bounced to the court, the students were rambling to get the balls, most of them claimed to the guys, and the chaotic game started.

Blaze managed to grab a ball and threw it at a boy wearing glasses, hitting him in the face and fell to the floor, crying.

_Too much,_ Blaze thought as she swiftly dodged an incoming ball. She didn't mean to hurt the poor guy, but in dodgeball in Blaze's mind, she can't go easy to anyone in dodgeball, weak or strong.

Another ball is rushing towards her, and Blaze is ready to catch the red ball, but Amy suddenly catches the incoming ball while sliding on the floor and flung the ball with a surprisingly amount of force to an unsuspecting tall boy right in the chest. Blaze was just left speechless on what Amy just did for a moment. It didn't last that long when Amy waved her hand over her face to get her attention.

"Blaze, you okay?" Amy asked her lavender-haired classmate.

"Yeah. I'm just kind of surprised on what you did," Blaze told Amy. "I thought you were... well... kind of..."

"I'm what, Blaze?"

"You look a bit girly to me to be that athletic."

"Oh, I get that a lot. If I can weld my hammer with ease, then I can be just as athletic, though not that much."

"I see."

"Now come on! Let's show those boys what we're made of!" Amy cheered as she picked up a stray dodgeball, and threw it at the other side.

While Blaze wants to beat the boys, she wanted to do it alone instead of teaming up with the determined Amy. It's somewhat nice that Amy is participating in the game unlike most of the girls who ended up talking to their friends, but Blaze has always done things alone as far as she can remember. Even if it requires someone else to complete a certain task, Blaze still can do them easily and be superior than others in pairs.

Her mind back on the game, Blaze suddenly found herself caught in a shower full of dodgeballs, but she managed to dodge them all thanks to her quick reflexes and caught a ball in the air. She then threw the ball, but instead of hitting one of the boys, it bounced to the wall. The boys burst into laughter after seeing Blaze's blunder of knocking them out, unknowing that Blaze kept her cool when they laughed. She devilishly smiled to the boys, confusing the boys why she smiled after her 'failure'. They soon realized why Blaze smiled at them when the ball lunged towards two boys in the stomach, and the others were unprepared when Blaze and Amy threw four dodgeballs at them, knocking them out in not only in ones but twos and threes!

"That was great!" Amy exclaimed, grabbing another dodgeball. "They didn't see that coming!"

_Not at all,_ Blaze agreed with Amy in her thoughts, _Those guys are idiots._

"Two minutes left!" the coach yelled.

The scoreboard is ticking away from two minutes to one minute and fifty-nine seconds, which means Blaze has to take down the remaining boys before time runs out! And by looking at each side, the left side had three boys while the right only had Blaze and Amy as the only participants of this game. Three-on-two. Blaze has dealt with worse match-ups than this. This is going to be a nasty brawl for the remaining teens.

Two boys who made fun of Blaze earlier started to throw the balls they can find frantically towards Blaze and Amy, with the two dodging the incoming balls with no problem, but couldn't catch one in the air. Even if they did, it'll be difficult to find out who threw the ball in order for one of the boys to get eliminated. Their only choice is to pick up the ball and pray they get eliminated. But that didn't work that well with the two boys hastily tossing the balls without breaking a sweat, and the balls thrown to the opposite side ended up falling to the middle. So were they just dodging the balls for the remainder of the game?

_No way,_ Blaze growled mentally as she picked up a ball from the ground and unlike her previous throws, she almost made the ball literally go into flames, and the two boys freaked out when parts of the ball is in flames, and didn't dare try and catch the ball. They had little to no time to react on what to do but run away for their lives from the ball. The two boys ended up crashing on the wall, and received much more pain when the ball made contact to their foreheads, screaming much louder than a crying baby and a cat screeching combined.

"Two down, one to go," Blaze muttered, looking at her last opponent.

Her opponent doesn't seem to be panicking after losing his two teammates at the last minute. He seemed to be calm and ready to take down Amy and Blaze despite the disadvantage he now has, picking up the slightly burnt ball from where the two boys were knocked out.

"You better run, Silver! There's no way you can win!" Amy yelled to her opponent.

_Silver? What kind of name is that? _Blaze asked herself.

Blaze spotted her opponent and see why Amy called that boy Silver. He had short silver hair, bangs having five spikes, wearing a gray shirt, navy blue shorts and gray Converses, but she couldn't see his eyes, yet that barely mattered to Blaze right now as she needs to focus on the game.

Silver, tossing the ball up and down, responded back to Amy, "Like I would! And I'm not letting the girls win!"

"We'll see about that!" Amy shouted back, throwing the ball towards Silver.

Silver merely sidestepped to the right and let the ball fly pass him like it was nothing to him. It then repeated for about three throws, Silver going to the left or the right, knowing where Amy is going to throw. Seeing that Amy is done throwing the balls, Silver backed up for a few steps and then taking one step forward, he let the ball go with tremendous effort, hoping it'll knock out Amy.

Amy's eyes grew wide as Silver's ball is heading towards her in about a few seconds. Catching it is out of the question and trying to avoid it quickly is knocked out of Amy's list of options. The only option is to take the hit and hope Blaze can win the game for the girls. Bracing for the impact of the ball, Amy is ready for a world of pain, just for today.

However, not only Amy's green eyes grew even wider but her mouth dropped down when Blaze took the hit very hard on the head, it knocked her down to the floor.

Silver was even shocked about what happened! He wanted to knock down Amy, not the lavender-haired girl! It was an accident! He was about to run to the right side when Amy effortlessly threw a ball to Silver's side, though it didn't hurt him badly. And with Silver somewhat eliminated, the coach blew his whistle, claiming the girls won the game of dodgeball. Silver didn't hear the jubilant cheers from the girls and disappointment from the guys. He's too busy wondering if the girl is okay and if he didn't injure her badly. God, why did this happen?

Finally getting to the right side of the basketball field, Silver rushed to where Amy is, giving him a nasty glare that reads "You've gone too far" to him. Ignoring that glare message from Amy, Silver kneel down to the floor and rubbed the red mark on the lavender-haired girl's forehead.

Blaze opened her eyes and stared at Silver, who's currently rubbing her forehead, and somehow was surprised that her opponent would even dare help her out from her injury.

Seeing the girl is awake, Silver asked her, "Are you feeling okay?"

_Why are you asking me that, you bastard? _Would be her response, but instead of that rude comment, Blaze sarcastically replied, "Yeah. Thanks for giving me that wonderful mark to my head."

"I didn't mean for that to happen. Really! I'm sorry! So so sorry!"

"Whatever," Blaze said in a flat tone, somewhat ignoring Silver's golden eyes. Gold. Like her's. Much more than...

"But I'm really sorry! That ball was suppose to hit Amy!"

"Hey!" Amy yelled to Silver. "But Silver didn't mean to hurt you on purpose. It was an accident, Blaze. Don't get angry with him."

"Yeah. And if apologizing isn't enough, I'll take you to the nurse's office right now! I don't mind! I really want to make it up to you!" Silver offered, holding out his hand for Blaze to reach in order to get up.

Blaze, however, slapped Silver's hand harshly instead of grabbing it to get up. She leaped off from the floor and walked away from Silver and Amy without looking back at the two. She has dealt with worse. It'll go away before she gets home, and she'll act like this little incident never happened in her life.

Silver was flabbergasted on what happened to him in Gym. He accidentally injured a girl, got told off by her, and refused his offer on getting her to the nurse's office. And the worse part: Silver started to take an interest in that girl.

"My god, I screwed up badly."


	2. The Crazy Lunch Day

~6th Period: Lunch~

Silver is now changed into his gray and light blue shirt, denim jeans, and gray boots after a tiring and shocking day at gym, and is delighted that it's finally lunch time! He can relax with his best friends while eating and chatting outside! But with what happened today, he doesn't feel comfortable talking about what happened last period.

The image of hitting the girl over during the dodgeball game is replaying in his mind multiple times, and no matter how hard he tries to shake that thought, it won't go away! He feels so guilty on what happened to her, and he still wants to make it up to her in anyway. But what would he do to make it up? He has no freakin' idea as of now.

Silver sighed as he started going to the cafeteria to get his food, but he felt something, or someone, on his back. And it wasn't his backpack. He turned around to see who is clinging to his back, and finally spotted the culprit behind this: Ryan Griffith. Or better known as 'Sonic' by the whole school for being the 'fastest thing alive'. Blue spiky hair, emerald green eyes, peach skin, wearing a white t-shirt with a blue vest, slightly ripped jeans, and red Soap shoes, it's definitely Sonic alright.

Laid-back and free-spirited are a few words to describe Sonic. He's the best friend Silver can ask for. The two met in the 3rd grade where Silver was stuck on a tree just to rescue some birds, when all of a sudden, Silver fell out from the tree when the tree branch snapped and Sonic swooped in and rescued him from a possible injury. Ever since then, the two became great friends.

Sonic slowly descended to the ground, and greeted his friend with, "Heya Vennie! How are ya doin'?"

_Why does he still call me Vennie?_ Silver thought. His real full name is Venice Faust, but most people called him Silver due to his silver hair. But Sonic thought the nickname 'Vennie' would be a cute name to call Silver, though he requested Sonic and his friends not to call him 'Vennie'. It seemed to be a simple rule. Until Sonic keeps calling him 'Vennie' since Middle School, and finally decided that he would be fine with 'that' nickname **if **Sonic and **only **Sonic says it. Anyone else... it depends. Either a "Don't call me Vennie" in an annoyed voice or "It's Silver". He didn't want to use violence on anyone just because of a dumb nickname.

Getting over the nickname Sonic has called him, Silver replied, "Just... um... great. Yeah. My day is going very well."

Sonic noticed the tone Silver was speaking is quite different. He'd sound a bit chipper right now, but he felt like something went wrong with him. Curious, Sonic asked Silver, "You sure, buddy? It seems like something went wrong last period. Am I right?"

"Uh... Y... Yes," Silver admitted.

"What happened, Vennie?"

"Well..."

"I'll tell you what happened in Gym!" another cheery voice popped into the conversation.

"Oh, crap," Sonic muttered as he readied himself to run out of the line when he heard that voice. He was too late to escape and ended up being strangled/hugged by Amy, now wearing her red tank-top and white skirt with her red boots. How Sonic hated Amy doing those kind of things to him! But Amy is still his friend, and Amy has dreams of marrying Sonic in the near future. Yet with Amy being **somewhat** obsessive to him, **somewhat** meaning **extremely **in Sonic's dictionary, Sonic thinking Amy as his wife is not possible!

Amy noticed Sonic's face turning the same color as his hair, and released him to prevent him from dying of having a lack of oxygen. Sonic took in a deep breath before moving to the line along with Silver and Amy.

"Amy, please don't do that to me!" Sonic slightly shouted to his rose-haired friend. "I could have suffocated to death!"

"Sorry, Sonic," Amy apologized in a cute voice. "I just couldn't resist hugging you after not seeing you for a long time."

"That was 4th period."

"So?"

Silver couldn't help himself but laugh while getting a tray of pizza to see Sonic and Amy having a 'mini-argument'. They actually look cute together, and might be ever cuter if they started dating. It's possible that might happen, but with what's happening, not a chance. He still looked at his two friends, continuing their mini-argument while grabbing their food. A chili dog for Sonic (typical), and a citrus salad for Amy. After getting their food, the three friends went outside to go to the place they usual sit: Under a large tree full of flowers.

Settling in and waiting for their remaining friends, Silver cleared his throat, and said, "Amy, didn't you have something to mention to Sonic?"

"Oh, I totally forgot! Silly me!" Amy laughed at herself. "Thanks for reminding me Silver."

"Is it about what happened last period?" asked Sonic, scarfing down parts of his chili dog.

"Yeah. So, our class was having a dodgeball game, Boys vs Girls. And I kind of took out most of the boys along with a new girl in our class."

"New girl?" Sonic interrupted Amy.

"Actually, she's been here for two days, but I didn't notice her until today. And let me tell you, she sure kicked ass out there!"

"That's sweet! You should introduce her to me sometime!"

"Amy, the story," Silver reminded Amy again.

"Sorry," Amy apologized, getting off topic. "Anyway, the last two minutes were ticking away, and it's three against two for the boys and girls. The new girl knocked out the two boys, and that leaves Silver all alone. However, he dodged all my shots at him, and he threw the dodgeball with so much force and I was ready to be impinged by the ball when he accidentally hit the new girl on the head!"

"Ouch," Sonic commented.

"And Silver, being the nice guy he is, tried to offer her to go to the nurse's office, and she slapped Sliver's hand so hard, it turned bright crimson!"

"Is it still there, Silver?"

Silver raised his red hand, still there as it happened a few moments ago! He can't wait 'til it fades away by the time he gets home. He hopes!

"It'll go away," said Silver. "It's no big deal."

"At least she didn't break your hand," Amy pointed out, sounding positive.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Oh, and I see Cream and Tails right now!"

"Heya guys!" Sonic shouted while waving to his two friends.

Miles Prower, or 'Tails' as he has two fox tails, waved back to Sonic while carrying his binder and his lunch at the same time. Clara Robinson, or 'Cream' by Amy since she's so kind, shouted back with a "Hello Amy!" to her best friend.

Tails had blond hair, a light skin tone, sky blue eyes, a yellow t-shirt with two white tails, and khakis reaching down to his red shoes. He's also a bit short for his age, getting mistaken as a small genius (which is the reason he's in the 10th grade at only 14), making people wonder if he is a sophomore here (he's 5'0 ft.). But that didn't bother Tails at all. He gets to hang around with his best friend, Sonic, most of the time and he's happy to be with him. That's what matters to Tails.

Cream can look like a elementary school student due to her child-like appearance: rusty blond hair in pigtails with blue ribbons, wide brown eyes, somewhat pale skin, an orange top with a blue ribbon on the collar, a light orange skirt, and brown shoes with white socks. And her height doesn't help as well, 4'8ft., but Cream can handle herself just fine despite starting a mere two weeks when school started.

The two friends went to sit under the tree where the three friends are currently at, enjoying their food while having a good chat. Sort of. Tails sat next to Sonic while Cream sat near Amy with Silver sitting between Tails and Cream.

While opening his can of lemonade, Tails started the conversation with, "I can't believe it's only the second week of school, and I've been stacked with homework in almost all of my classes!"

"I know!" Sonic agreed with his friend. "Geometry is killing me! Those damn geometric figures are giving me nightmares."

"Speaking of which, don't we have an assigned English project tomorrow?" Amy reminded the group.

"What English project?"

"The one where we evaluate a random book and see how it relates to real-life," Amy explained to Sonic.

Sonic face-palmed as he heard the words 'evaluate' and 'relates to real-life' together, and can't believe he has to do this project. He liked to read books at times, but doing it for a school project, it seemed to take away the fun from him of reading the book. And the worst is the random choosing of the book. He better not get a girly book, or heaven forbid the Twilight series. Just. No.

Cream offered Sonic one of her homemade strawberry cupcakes to him while comforting him by saying, "Don't worry Mr. Ryan. You'll do it with partners, and you won't evaluate books like Twilight or Harry Potter. My mom told me to inform you guys."

Well that's a relief. Cream's mom, Vanilla, is one of the English II teachers at Emerald High, and the fact she knows Cream's friends so well, she gives out the agenda earlier than usual to lower their stress. And not to mention Cream and Vanilla sometimes bakes sweet treats, such as scones or cupcakes, and gives it to them. However, both of them has a tendency to call them Mr or Miss a lot, despite wanting to called by their first name or nickname. But other than that, they're usually the most pleasant mother and daughter family anyone has ever seen.

Scarfing down the pink cupcake in a matter of seconds, Sonic cheerfully cried out, "Thanks, Cream! Now at least I can feel a bit relaxed!"

"Your welcome, Mr. Ryan," Cream replied back, still using Sonic's real name with a Mr.

"Now you made most of us feel relieved, Cream," Silver added. "It's nice of you to tell us about the English project in much more detail."

"Now all we need to do is to tell Knuckles about the news about the English project. He's been slightly freaking out over it," Tails pointed out.

"By the way, where is Knuckles, anyway?" asked Amy, taking a bite out of her salad.

CRASH!

Of course. Whenever there's a crash going on in the school, it can only mean one thing: Kennith Shard, or 'Knuckles' as he's very tough. But he seemed to be smashing a lot more than last year, though the smashing isn't random objects. It's boys from Freshman to Seniors. Why is that?

Sighing, Tails used his twin tails to get a bird's eye view on what's currently happening inside the school. These two tails, can't remember how he got them, always came in handy and even saved his life for a few times. He somehow has great vision, with or without glasses, that puts an owls vision to shame, seeing things at any distances, far or nearby. With these two uncanny yet amazing abilities, Tails witnessed Knuckles tossing a freshman boy to the window with tremendous force, almost causing the window to crack.

CRACK!

Never mind. It already cracked. And Knuckles barely broke a sweat from taking down a freshman. Sure his red shirt is filled with a bit of mayonnaise, and military pants somewhat torn, but he's fine. Somewhat. The freshman that was beaten by Knuckles was scared of him because of a few reasons. One, his physical appearance. Red dreads, purple eyes staring at him evilly, tan skin, and muscles toned out well, he might not look scary to others, but he might be to some people. Two, he has a very short-temper, getting furious very easily. And three, his god-like strength! Knuckles can easily tear down concrete walls or any types of steels just by punching it! He can also lift objects two times or ten times his weight and not break a sweat.

Knuckles jumped near the freshman boy, who's currently shaking in fear, and Knuckles grabbed the boy's shirt, lifting him off the ground.

"Now you listen, fresh meat," Knuckles growled to the freshman boy. "If you think you can mess with my little sister like that ever again, the last thing you'll see is my bare fists! GOT IT?"

"Here we go again," everyone groaned, knowing Knuckles is in his 'big-brother' mode again. For the third time today!

"We'll go get Knuckles and calm him down," Silver said getting up along with Sonic. "Amy, watch over Cream and yell if Knuckles' sister is here. Okay?"

"Got it, Sliver!" Amy agreed, watching Silver running to where Knuckles is, only to get almost knocked over by Sonic's blinding speed.

"Too slow, Vennie!" Sonic teased his silver-haired friend, running backwards.

Silver decided to ignore Sonic's slightly sharp comment and rushed to Knuckles and the freshman. And from what Silver can see, it's not pretty. Knuckles has been acting like this recently ever since his little sister started high school. Silver felt proud of Knuckles for taking care of his sister and help her around the school, but when it comes to boys, Knuckles will beat the crap out of any boy who touches, talks, or even winks at her, freshman to seniors. He's fine with Silver, Sonic, and Tails being around with his sister, but any other boy: D-E-A-D.

And right now, Silver managed to find Knuckles, being held against his will by Sonic and Tails, grabbing his arms to avoid any further conflict between the him and the frightened freshman.

"Let me go, damn it!" Knuckles demanded, struggling to free himself from the grips of Sonic and Tails, "I haven't finished this boy's lesson!"

Tightening the grip, Sonic answered, "So you can practically kill this kid? No way!"

"Come on, Knuckles! Just because some guy is talking to your sister doesn't mean she'll go out with him!" Tails added, slightly tightening his grip to Knuckles' arm. "Now apologize to him for what you did!"

"NO!" Knuckles yelled, still struggling to get out of his two friends grips.

"Knuckles, please!" both Sonic and Tails begged to their red-haired friend.

"I. Said. NO!" Knuckles repeated, this time, successfully having his arms free of his friends. However, before he can finish where he started, he was suddenly lifted off from the ground and in the air. Knuckles somewhat panicked on floating in the air, rambling that he should be released from being hovered in the air. Seeing Knuckles like this, Sonic, Tails, and the used-to-be frightened freshman can't help but laugh at Knuckles' freakout of being levitated.

"That's a nice way to stop Knucklehead, Vennie!" Sonic replied, eventually laughing so hard he fell down to a table full of some students.

_Vennie? _That means...

"SILVER!" Knuckles yelled out.

Yep. Silver had psychokinesis ever since he was born. However, Silver only uses his psychokinesis in emergencies as he wants to be treated equally like almost everyone (key word being almost). Yet people don't find psychokinesis 'evil' with a great guy such as Silver possessing that power, so whenever Silver uses his powers, people don't mind it as Silver is always there to help those weak.

Silver, standing next to Tails and a still laughing Sonic, spoke to Knuckles, using a firm tone while still having his usual friendly look, "Knuckles, it's great that you care for your little sister, but this is going way too far."

"So what if I'm going too far?"

"Well, you get all ballistic whenever a boy comes near her," Silver pointed out.

"He might do 'that' to her!" Knuckles exclaimed, using air quotes on 'that'.

Tails almost wanted to ask what Knuckles ment by 'that', but his mouth was covered by Sonic, who screamed, "No Tails! You don't want to know what 'that' means! Never!"

Sonic's screaming earned him to be stared at weirdly by some students, including Knuckles and Silver. The emerald eyed teen then somehow laughed at his own embarrassment, and slightly backed away, along with Tails, hiding to a pillar.

Seeing that Sonic is gone, Silver sighed and continued, "Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that don't be all overprotective of your sister. You can't watch her forever, Knuckles."

"I know," Knuckles muttered. "She's always my sweet and timid little sister, and... I don't want any boys poisoning her innocent mind!"

"Really?"

"Yeah. High school is full of crazy people, and this school is filled with sick boys. I really don't want her to be... Err... You know what I'm saying, right Silver?"

"I got you," said Silver, putting a thumbs-up to Knuckles, "Now before I let you down, apologize to the boy you mauled."

"Okay," Knuckles sighed in defeat before turning to the freshman to apologize, "And about what I said, I'm really sorry. I care for my sister, and I'm assuming you heard my reason about why I did this. Do ya?"

The freshman nodded his head, answering Knuckles question, before going back inside the cafeteria like this crazy event with Knuckles has never happened.

Seeing that the freshman is gone, Knuckles asked Silver, "Uh... Now will you let me go, Silver?"

With a simple nod, Silver gently and slowly levitated Knuckles down to the ground, allowing him to land safely without breaking a bone. Knuckles gave out a few small air punches before giving out a high-five to Silver.

"Thanks, Silver," Knuckles thanked his friend.

"No problem," Silver responded back. "Just try not to use too much violence to those 'disturbing' your sister."

"Will do. Speaking of which, where is she?"

"Guys! Tikal is with us!" Amy yelled with Tikal, wearing a plain short-sleeved orange dress, waving to the boys.

"Okay, Amy! We'll be there in just a-"

Again, Silver was almost knocked over by not only Sonic but Knuckles as well, ecstatic to finally spend some time with his innocent sister, Tikal. At first glace, Knuckles and Tikal might not look like they're related to each other, Tikal having long orange hair and not that tan skin, and they're personalities are mirrored: Knuckles being aggressive and confident while Tikal is calm yet shy. But they're siblings alright.

Silver returned to sitting under the tree with most of his friends either chatting about how their day went or sharing their food with each other. What does it mean by most? Well, Silver has other friends besides those currently with him.

One of the few missing friends is Silver's long-time friend: Takeshi Kaneko, or "Espio" as Sonic thinks of him like a stealthy-ninja, which is true. Serious, silent, and confident are some words to describe him. Espio has been taking various of martial arts classes ever since he was little, including the skills of a ninja, and is known for unveiling the secrets of the school for the school's newspaper since he's one of the reporters of the Journalists Club along with Silver. He does takes his position as a reporter seriously, and he's rarely here for lunch, often at the library or anywhere at school to find more secrets to write about, but Silver doesn't mind it as he sees him later in the day.

Another one is a member of the tennis and track team, not to mention Sonic's long-time rival: Shadow Midnight. One word to describe Shadow: mysterious. That's it. Shadow has a hard personality to figure out, not to mention figuring out his past since he never talks about it or knowing what he likes and dislikes. But Shadow is an honor student, studying to become a doctor to find a cure for most 'incurable' diseases in the future, though the reason for Shadow wanting to become a doctor is, like always for Shadow, unknown. Silver supports Shadow's goal since like his mysterious friend, Silver wants to be a doctor as well, and the two support each others future career, though silently most of the time.

And the last one is captain of the cheer-leading squad: Rouge Bayle. A slight drama queen but compassionate and fearless are words to describe Rouge very well. Not to mention having a model's body that will make girls jealous, and Knuckles slightly being attracted to her. Key word being **slightly**. Speaking of models, Rouge has been scouted by a model agent somewhere in February after a soccer game, and ever since then, she's been appearing in some advertisements in magazines such as _Glitter_ (Amy's favorite for fashion) and _Star Mania_. She might be in a cover in _Glitter_ sometime in three weeks if Silver can remember correctly. And with Rouge absent means she's currently in a photo shoot for another ad.

Silver can understand Espio and Rouge not attending lunch, but Shadow is, again, a mystery to why he isn't here for today. But Silver assumed he's studying, so he focused on relaxing with his friends for lunch once again after solving Knuckles' 'conflict' with the freshman boy.

Remembering the boy from the incident, Silver suddenly asked Tikal, "By the way Tikal, what was the boy doing to you?"

Blushing bright red from hearing that incident again, Tikal answered to Silver, "He was asking me about the page numbers for our Algebra homework, but before I can tell him... Err..."

"I got it," said Silver, knowing what Tikal is going to say.

"Yeah. It's not like I have any interest with that guy, or dating in general."

"You better not!" Knuckles yelled to Tikal while balancing a soccer ball on his head.

"I won't, Kennith. Please don't worry," Tikal responded to her brother, face still blushing red.

"Just relax, Knuckles," Silver advised his red-haired friend.

Finishing his last few bites of his pizza, Silver was about to take his plastic tray to the nearby trashcan until Knuckles' soccer ball hit him in the back very hard, it almost made Silver drop his lunch to the ground. He heard Knuckles laughing at what he did to Silver a few seconds ago, and it's normal for Silver to expect an incoming soccer ball lunging at him. Normally, Silver almost gotten hit with the ball, but now it actually hit him hard with Knuckles playing soccer for ten years and this pain will stay with Silver for the rest of the day. Or continue on for tomorrow.

Seeing the stray black and white ball still rolling towards his feet, Silver picked up the ball by using his feet to toss it in the air, eventually catching it before talking to Knuckles.

"What was that for, Knuckles?" Silver asked, slightly annoyed.

"You said I need to relax!" Knuckles answered, trying to hold his laughter.

"Trying to use me as target practice is your splendid idea of relaxing?"

"Maybe. I was going to use Sonic or Tails as my target."

"Really Knuckles?" Sonic and Tails yelled at Knuckles in annoyance.

Silver, along with the girls, couldn't help but laugh at Knuckles' joke of using Sonic or Tails as targets for Knuckles' brutal kicks with his soccer balls. Imagining that is somewhat creepy yet hilarious picturing the two running for their lives from Knuckles.

Getting that picture out of his head, Silver put the soccer ball down to the ground, giving out a slight smile as he scrapped his boots on the ground.

Noticing Silver's unexpected smile, Knuckles questioned Silver, "Why are you smiling Silver?"

"Oh, I can forgive you if you manage to stop this ball from hitting the tree," Silver told Knuckles, pointing to where his friends are currently at. "It shouldn't be a problem for you. Right?"

"Yeah! No problem! Give it all you got, Silver."

Of course Silver will give out his best to deliver a strong kick for his tough soccer friend. His smile grew when he heard his friends cheering loudly that almost everyone outside can hear them.

"Go Silver!" Amy, Sonic and Tails cheered.

"Good luck to you Mr. Venice and Mr. Kennith," Cream told her friends, finding it difficult who to cheer for.

"I know you can do it," Tikal encouraged her brother.

Knuckles readied himself into goalie position to catch the ball with slight ease, while Silver backed up a few steps to make the ball to catch even harder for Knuckles to catch. After ten to fourteen steps back, Silver sprinted to the ball and gave it a powerful kick that made Sonic whistle with amazement. Knuckles gulped a little as this ball was going to be tough to catch, let alone handle. But he likes to be challenged and smiled as he knew this is going to get fun for him.

Unfortunately, before the two can get the final results of this 'mini-bet', Silver's eyes widened in horror as he witnessed the ball smacking into Blaze's tray, causing it to make the food land on not only her clothes but her hair.

_Crap,_ Silver cursed in his mind, running to Blaze.

"This doesn't look too good for Silver," Amy said, still remembering what happened last period.

Blaze wiped off the lettuce and croutons on her shirt, but growled in annoyance when she finds the ranch dripping all over the sides of her hair, eventually landing on her shirt. She couldn't believe how this day is turning out to be. First, the constant teasing (which doesn't bother her at all), then the incident in dodgeball where she still has that red mark on her forehead, and now this? Today is really starting to get worse for Blaze. Possibly her worst day ever.

About to leave, she felt someone grabbed her hand, causing her to turn around to see who's doing that. Blaze wanted to use her fire powers right now when she found out Silver was the one grabbing her hand. She really, **really**, didn't want to see that kid ever since the dodgeball incident.

"What do you want?" Blaze asked Silver in a vicious tone.

"Uh... It's that I'm really sor-"

"SO IT WAS YOU WHO DID THIS TO ME?" Blaze interrupted Silver, letting go of his hand and almost showing signs of fire appearing in her hands.

"Yes," Silver admitted, not flinching over Blaze's yelling. "You see, I was having this bet with one of my friends when he kicked a soccer ball to my back, and I thought I can forgive him if he catches it when I kick it, but I didn't see you there while I was kicking it. So I didn't mean to ruin your lunch and make a mess of yourself."

_Not to mention hurting you twice in one day,_ Silver thought in his mind.

"And again, I **really **want to make it up for you. It's the least I can do after what happened last period," Silver added.

Is this guy serious? Whenever Blaze gets either injured or humiliated by her victim, they laugh like it's the most hilarious thing they've ever seen or leave her like an abandoned toy in stitches. But this Silver kid isn't like the rest of the 'victims'. He doesn't laugh at her or leave her to suffer the pain inside and out. He's willing to help her out even if he'd injured/humiliate her twice today. To Blaze, someone helping her out is **foreign** to her. Sure, her parents helped her out, but she didn't mind it. But to a stranger like Silver, she doesn't know if she should accept Silver's offer for help or not. Would he seriously help the** Disgusting Flaming Monster** or is he going to humiliate her more than he already did?

Seeing a unopened carton of milk, Blaze snatched it off the ground, opening it, and did something that made Silver's eyes grow in horror: Blaze poured the entire carton of milk into Silver's head, leaving his hair, shirt, and pants soaking wet. All of Silver's friends were even shocked on what happened to him.

"Oh my god!" Cream cried out, couldn't believe what she'd seen before her eyes.

"Is that girl crazy?" Sonic asked before running to Silver's side, along with everyone else.

Silver couldn't believe it. All he wanted to do was to help Blaze for what he's done to her, and not only he has a red hand, but he's all soaked in milk.

Blaze threw away the carton to the trashcan, and gave one last nasty glare to Silver before she can walk away from him. However, she was blocked by Sonic and Tails before she can go.

"What the hell was that for, girl?" Sonic asked, waving his arms frantically. "Silver offered you some help and your response was pouring milk all over him? Why?"

"To get even with him," Blaze answered to Sonic.

"But that isn't right to do that," said Tails. "Silver told you it was an accident. He'd never meant for it to happen!"

"Accident? Sure it was an accident," Blaze snapped back to Tails sarcastically. "Your friend said the same thing when he injured my forehead last period!"

"Huh? What do you-"

Sonic suddenly remembered the story Amy told him earlier about what happened last period, and the words that popped into his mind were 'new girl', 'dodgeball', and 'hit in the head' made him realize that this is the girl Amy was talking about in her story. The lavender-haired girl who soaked Silver with milk was the girl Sonic wanted to meet in the future? Sonic couldn't believe it. He thought the new girl was going to be all nice yet tough, but that seemed to fly away after meeting her.

The blue-haired teen then moved close to Blaze, telling her, "Hey! You heard what my buddy said! Silver didn't mean to hurt you, and I know it's the truth because I know Silver very well. He's the nicest guy you'll ever meet in your whole life."

"And rejecting his offers is like refusing a bag full of sweets," Tails added.

Blaze didn't like what Sonic and Tails were saying to her, and pushed the two out of her way while running away from the two boys. Sonic almost fell to the ground, while Tails flew to avoid falling.

"Do you think she even listened to us?" Sonic questioned Tails.

"Don't know. It seemed like she doesn't care," Tails answered his friend's question, before getting back to where Silver is.

Sighing, Sonic went back to Silver, who was now standing up with the help from Cream, Tikal, and Knuckles, and looked at Amy about what happened with him and Blaze.

"Well, I met the new girl, and I already think she's mean," Sonic told Amy.

"You sure?" asked Amy.

"Does being sarcastic and refusing to listen count as being mean, Amy?"

Amy didn't have an answer thought out in her head to respond to Sonic's question, and can only sigh to Sonic before turning back to the soaked Silver.

* * *

**Author's Note: Hey! Chapter 2 is finally done after two days (three for writing this chapter)! Now about the names I gave to most of the Sonic characters (such as Blaze to Barbara and Sonic to Ryan), I'll explain their meanings starting in the next chapter, one at a time. **

******Oh, and something I forgot to mention in Chapter 1, I don't own the Sonic series. SEGA owns it. Gray Flame was made by a fan, for the fans of Sonic. The only things I own in the story are the made-up magazines I mentioned.**

**Until then, if you liked this story so far, don't forget to review! **


	3. Reflections

~After School 4:00~

Waving his friends good-bye in the hallway, Silver exited out of the school building where he spotted Espio already inside his black Toyota car, calling for Silver to get inside the car. The silver-haired teen did exactly what Espio told him, and entered inside the car where he was greeted by his long-time friend.

Espio had purple hair with a yellow streak on the middle, orange-yellow eyes, peach skin, and is wearing a purple shirt covered with his black jacket, brown pants, and black Adidas shoes. Might not look like a strong martial arts students at first glance, but Espio is a worthy opponent in the ring, and doesn't go easy to anyone, regardless if they're beginners or have no experience at all.

With Silver clicking on his seat belt and letting his backpack lie between his feet, Espio began to hit the gas pedal and the two were out of the school and ready to head back home. Silver leaned back a little on his seat, thinking about what happened today at school. Mainly with the girl he accidentally injured in Gym and how he ruined her lunch and clothes. Not to mention whenever Silver offered her help, she refused him in the harshest way as possible! It's like she didn't want his help for a reason. But why?

Is she a girl who doesn't mind what she looks like? Or is she just too stubborn to get help? Or worse, she doesn't care at all and likes to humiliate others for her amusement? The first two can be possible explanations, but the third one is just plain stupid! Or is it? His head full of confusion, Silver frantically scratched his head all around, somewhat ruining his neatly brushed hair, but it didn't matter right now as school is over, and his hair can be as messy as he wants.

Noticing his friend with a now messy hair, Espio asked Silver, "Is everything okay, Venice? You don't look good."

"I just kind of had a not-so-good day, Espio," Silver responded to Espio. "So much happened to me in this one day."

"Like you being soaked in milk during lunch?"

Silver immediately went back sitting up straight when he heard Espio mentioning the words 'soaked in milk' to him! He really didn't want this event to replay in his mind multiple times again.

"H... How did you know that?" Silver demanded Espio, his voice slightly squeaked while he asked the question.

"I've heard about it during one of my classes," Espio straight out answered, still focused on the road.

"Great."

Espio pressed on the brake pedal after seeing a red-light, and cursed when he stopped at the infamous stoplight that's known for having the red light on for about six minutes and the green light staying on for half of the time.

"That stoplight again?" Silver asked Espio.

"Yep," the driver answered flatly. "Might as well listen to the radio while we're waiting for that ancient signal to go green."

Espio usually doesn't listen to the radio because the music they usually play makes him want to tear the radio out of his car and let it burn until it's nothing but ashes. He's willing to do that. The songs he hears range from partying to getting a girl to have... Espio didn't want 'that certain word' to pop in his mind. And speaking of 'that certain word' he didn't want to hear, as Espio is turning the volume to a moderate listening level, a rap song both Espio and Silver despise came bursting through the speakers. It had to be "Look at Me Now" by Chris Brown and some other rapper that they don't care about.

Silver covered his ears to avoid hearing the rapper 'singing' rapidly fast while Espio searched for a Mix CD in his backpack full of songs he likes to listen while driving. The teen driver finally found his CD and insert it to the slot for the CD, ending the torturous song they had to listen for a few seconds.

"Thank god," Silver sighed. "I really didn't want to hear that song."

"Well you don't have to," said Espio. "We're going to listen to the songs in my CD."

After a few seconds of silence, a guitar started playing in the beginning, then it grew louder until it was backed up by another guitar and some drums. Silver tapped his foot in rhythm to the song, singing the lyrics to himself as it's one of his favorite song to listen.

_If you wanna make it, you've gotta give'em all_

_Lay it on the line_

_You wonder why good things never come easy_

_Don't stop for anything_

"_Don't give up, keep the fire, keep the faith,_" Silver singed, still tapping his foot in rhythm.

"Venice," Espio called out to his singing friend, using his real name. Like Cream and Vanilla, Espio always uses his friend's real names, minus the Mr and Miss part, and Tails is the exception to this rule as his real name, Miles, just sounded weird; especially if the last name is included.

He stopped singing on his favorite lyrics, and turned to Espio who called him while the song is playing.

"What, Espio?" asked Silver.

"Tell me what made you have that bad day."

"Sure," Silver would've refused to answer that question if someone else asks it, but with Espio around, he feels comfortable telling him. And with the light still not green, Silver decided he should tell him, "It started with me hitting the new girl during a dodgeball game at gym."

"Isn't that the point of dodgeball?"

"Well, yeah, but I was aiming for Amy, and you know how I get competitive in dodgeball."

It's true. Whenever a game is involved, Silver will go all out and his nice personality vanishes and turns into a rash and somewhat rude competitor, while remaining a good-sport. As long Silver isn't in last and had a great time, he's happy. Then when the game is over, Silver goes back to becoming his old, friendly self again. Strangers will turn their heads in confusion if that's the same person they competed with.

"I know," said Espio, turning away from the wheel for a moment. Only about five more minutes until the light turns green. "Go on."

"Okay. Anyway, that girl, I think Amy called her Blaze if I remember correctly," Silver trying to remember right now, "she ended up slapping my hand when I offered her to take her to the nurse's office."

"Her reason for doing that?"

"I don't know. I thought that she can take the pain like it's no big deal."

_Start you up, down the road you go_

_Hang on to your dreams, yeah_

_Cruisin' down to the paradise_

_Turn the car into the wind, yeah_

_Into the wind_

Silver had to ignore the song, not noticing it's almost near the end. He had to finish his story!

"And then there's the milk incident," Silver slightly groaned, not wanting to tell this part to Espio. "Knuckles thought it was hilarious to hit me in the back with a soccer ball while I'm not looking. And I decided to play a game with him."

"And that game is...?" Espio wondered what Silver is about to say next.

"If he can catches the ball that I kicked, I'll forgive him for what he did."

"Did you?"

"Actually, the result never happened and I ended up splattering Blaze's lunch all over her. I then apologized for what I did to her, and I still wanted to help her in any type of way. I thought she'd accept my offer, but instead..."

"Milk," Espio finished his sentence for Silver.

"Yep. To be honest, I never expected her to soak me in milk. When she did, I felt a bit humiliated like she did, but not to the point of crying. And for why she did that to me..."

"To get even with you?" Espio guessed.

"Maybe," Silver slightly agreed, "But that's what she wants me to think."

Espio still groaned as the light is still red after looking back at the front, and turned to Silver, still continuing his story. Hearing Silver's last words, the martial arts student turned his head a bit to the left, feeling confused, "Huh?"

"It's a wild guess, but I think Blaze's reason for soaking me is that besides her family, she was never offered any kind of help from others in her whole life. She might felt surprised when I asked her that, and didn't know what to say."

Espio thought about what Silver just said about the reason for Blaze's actions. And even if he hasn't met her yet, with the description Silver explained to him, Espio had to agree with Silver's statement. He knew that reason is true because he used to be the boy who never received help from anyone besides his family. Until twelve years ago.

The day he received help was when Espio lost both of his parents at the innocent age of four by his cousin, Ryo. He loved Ryo because he defended him from thieves or street thugs as Espio's former neighborhood is known for it's devious crimes such as murder, prostitution, gambling, all of that stuff. But one day, Ryo acted... different. He mixed up his sentences when attempting to talk, his eyes bloodshot and baggy, had clumsy movements, but the worst was his temper.

Espio's parents noticed Ryo's awkward actions, telling him he needs to leave and rest. But to his alcohol-filled brain: "Don't come back at all you bastard!"

Mistaking concern with frustration, the drunken teen snatched a large mirror hanging on the wall, and proceeded to ruthlessly beat both of Espio's parents like they were ragged punching bags. Espio's four year old eyes grew blank and almost starting to lose it's bright color seeing his parents' blood dying the brown carpet into crimson red. He thought his mind was playing a cruel game with him, but it wasn't as Ryo slowly walked closer to him, holding a broken shard of the mirror.

Espio thought his life is done until a tan man with green hair entered the house, and can only swallow his would-be-barf back when he spotted Espio's lifeless parents. The mysterious man looked at Ryo, who's ready to kill Espio, and he lunged at the murderer, causing Espio to crawl backwards to avoid getting into the conflict.

He did hear bones cracking and spotted drips of blood dying parts of the carpet red, but after two minutes of brutal fighting, the tan man became victorious of knocking Espio's cousin out unconscious. Espio can only stay still like a stone, shivering all over not because he's cold but shivering in terror after witnessing the most horrifying images his golden eyes has let him witnessed. The shivering came to a halt when the man who saved his life put his rough hand on his small shoulder.

"Thank god you're safe kid," the man told little Espio. "But about your parents, all I can say is that they're going to a place where they'll watch you."

"And that place is...?" little Espio timidly asked the tough man.

"Heaven. I haven't been there, but it exists all right," the man answered to Espio, using his finger to point as high as he can. "And I really don't want to leave you here in this neighborhood. Come with me. I know a place where you can live."

Espio didn't know what to say at that time. He received help from his parents when he hurt himself or try to get something at hard to reach places, but a stranger: never! But this man was the reason he's still living, and with his four-year-old mind ordering him to trust him, Espio nodded his head and take a hold of the man's rough and large hand.

"I forgot one more thing," the man said, face-palming himself. "The name is Vector Maher. Yours?"

"Takeshi Kaneko."

Ever since then, Espio had to thank Vector for not only saving his life but changing it as well by offering help, and teaching him that offering and receiving help will make a difference to someone someday one step at a time. And Vector is right. Espio is still living, met and befriended Silver, took multiple martial arts classes to defend himself, and volunteers for pretty much anything for a good cause.

Leaving memory lane in his thought, Espio muttered in annoyance, "Damn light," as the stoplight is still on red! However, it's not going to last long as the first song ended and was later replaced with a speaker ready to blow, and had a guitar and drums playing the first part of the song before the singers started. Well, a minute left before the light turns green.

_Cross the borderline of black and white and_

_Climb the stairway, up and up we go_

_Nothing good to do, just bored to death hey_

_Can I take your hand and steal you away_

_Step and stumble do you want to go on?_

_Don't you worry, the alter is our floor_

_Toss and turn and dizzy up ourselves and_

_Keep on dancing, you and me right here now_

After hearing parts of the first verse, the lights finally turned green, and Espio hit the gas pedal hastily, waiting six minutes for a light to turn green really wanted Espio to behead the antediluvian light right now, and sighed as he and Silver are about to finally go home.

Silver, hearing this song, thought how the lyrics somewhat match to what happened today. He wanted Blaze to take his hand and take her to make her feel better the first time he met her, but she refused his offer. He wondered if he should either forget Blaze or try to help her again tomorrow. Right now, it's still undecided and can only sigh, making a fog in the window made from his breath.

* * *

~ Blaze's House (Room) 4:20~

_Shall we dance?_

_Say what?_

_Shall we dance?_

_No thank you._

_Shall we dance?_

_Enough._

_Shall we dance?_

_No more please._

_Shall we dance?_

_Don't need it._

_Shall we dance?_

_Go Away!_

_Shall we dance?_

Blaze plopped down into her bed full of purple and red sheets with headphones on her ears, purple iPod on her hand, currently thinking about what happened to her today while listening to this song. Somehow, the part with the singers saying "Shall we dance?" kind of reflects on what Silver wanted to do, except it was him offering her some help. The times Silver offered help, Blaze didn't know what to say and thought it was some joke he'll pull later on. She wanted him to stop and go away, but he didn't. At lunch, he still wants to help her no matter what, like it's his job, and Blaze really wanted him to leave her alone, prompting her to soak him in milk. That gave her a scolding from two boys, though she didn't take it seriously, yet some of them are still in her head.

_"... I know Silver very well. He's the nicest guy you'll ever meet in your whole life."_

_ "And rejecting his offers is like refusing a bag full of sweets."_

_ Is what they said true?_ Blaze questioned herself, letting the song continue to flow into her eardrums.

At her old school, Blaze became a pariah very quickly due to the rumors some girls at her middle school spread, and like most rumors, it spread like wildfire. Whenever she passed by some group of girls talking about who knows what, one of them 'accidentally' tripped Blaze by sticking her shoe in front of her and will laugh at her misery. Same thing to the boys, only they threw paper balls and spit out pre-chewed gum into her hair. No one tried to help her out. Not even the nicest people or teachers would help; fearing they'll be part of the torture with Blaze. And in that one year as a freshman, Blaze has been thrown into the school fountain (not the drinking kind), has been called horrible names, stuffed into the boys bathroom stall all alone, soaked in black ink at the last day of school, and much more she can think of.

Pretty much another reason she transferred to Emerald High, hoping this school would be better, but it's the same as her old school. One of the differences is that people like Silver and Amy were willing to help her out and stand up to bullies respectively, not caring about the consequences that Blaze thought was coming towards them. She wonder if Silver's other friends would be willing to do this.

_Why am I thinking about such nonsense? _Blaze thought, repeating the song without looking, _They're just strangers who probably has the motto "Do one good deed each day" stuck in their head. They'll ignore me by tomorrow. _

Or is she thinking about it all wrong? Blaze sighed as she rolled to the other side of the bed, listening to the chorus of the repeated song.

_Hop'n step'n may I have this dance_

_This is the world's end._

_Shall we do the 'one two'?_

_Drink in all of this __apocalyptism_

_How about a little taste of daze and_

_Tick and tack, the moment's moving on_

_Shoot now, 'say cheese' our time is running out_

_Round and round and going round and round_

_Intoxicate. The world's getting (high)_

Blaze paused the song that's currently playing, jumped out of bed, and exited out of her room to go in the living room to see if her parents are already home. Climbing down the stairs in a quick motion, she didn't spot any steam from the kitchen, didn't hear her mom cutting something for dinner or her humming, and she definitely didn't see her dad going over tomorrow's agenda for class. They're not home. Again.

Most of the time, her parents arrived home somewhere between five or six due to their busy jobs, leaving Blaze an hour or two to herself. It's nice, but Blaze does want her parents to be home a little earlier than usual so she can spend some time with them. She may not look like it, but Blaze is the girl who's always wanting to spend some time with her parents whenever she possibly can, though topics such as school and friends are always avoided when having a conversation with them for obvious reasons.

Blaze sighed as she's trying to decide what to do for the next hour or two before her parents can get home. She read all of her library books and has at least re-read them twice, so maybe going to the library isn't such a bad idea. With her plan set, Blaze rushed back upstairs to grab all three books from her room, slipping on her high heels, and climbing down the stairs faster than the last time to get near the front door, leaving the house completely empty.

Her running eventually transformed into a simple walk once she's about ten to thirty feet away from her house. The temperature isn't too hot or cold, the wind slightly blowing through her hair, and with no sight of any of her classmates, former and new, Blaze relatively felt she doesn't have to worry about anyone ruining the rest of the day. They already ruined her morning and half of her afternoon, which is most of her day, so why would they bother ruining the remaining half of her afternoon and her evening? Well, it's not like she cares about them or they're on her mind.

Except Silver. The only nice guy who tried to help Blaze despite pushing him away twice. Her mind is going round and round just thinking about that teen! She kept wondering if Silver is going to make another attempt on helping her or somehow befriend her tomorrow at school.

Well, she'll never know what will happen tomorrow. Blaze prayed that Silver will forget about her by tomorrow. That would make things easier for Blaze. Or better yet, for the both of them.

* * *

**Author's Note: Yea! Chapter 3 is up! Hope I didn't give you guys some disturbing images this early in the story (my bad). And yes, I really don't like rap in general, as I put in the story including "Look at Me Now" by Chris Brown and another rapper who I don't know (can't understand more than half of the song in there).**

**Now for the name meanings. First off is Barbara (Blaze)! The name Barbara is Latin for "foreign woman", which what people view her as in this story (having no friends, refusing any type of help, her powers, etc.). Her last name, Jewel, if paired with Blaze, is a reference to the Sol Emeralds; the jewels/emeralds she has to guard in the Sonic series.  
**

**Few more things before I go, the songs I had, besides the said rap song, are listed down below (appearing in order):**

**"Into the Wind" by Crush 40**

**"World End's Dancehall" by Miku Hatsune and Luka Megurine**

**Why did I put those songs in there? That's for you to guess.**

**Next, I don't own any of the songs I used/mentioned, and I don't own the Sonic series (SEGA does). I only own my OC Ryo (made up last minute).**

**And lastly, thanks for the 200 views, and if you enjoyed this story, please review!**


	4. Orphans and Libraries

~Emerald Street 1991 4:30~

The car came to a sudden halt as Espio and Silver reached their destination after having to wait over six minutes for a stoplight to turn green, and having to deal with the traffic for twenty minutes due to some moron smashed into a tree while he was texting and driving. Well, they can at least relax at their home: The Chaotix Orphanage.

Huh? An orphanage? That's where the two live in? Really?

Yep. Silver was raised in this thriving orphanage ever since he was six years old when his parents died in a horrible car accident caused by a drunk driver at night. He can clearly remember the fatal day because he was in the car accident! They were coming home after a Fourth of July firework show ended in a nearby park close to their home, and while driving in the highway, the sound of police sirens surrounded the air as a few police cars were on a speed chase with a slightly broken red Chevy car steering the highway in various of directions; left and right. Silver's parents knew what this means, while Silver didn't since he never knew what a drunk driver would do back then. They tried their best to get out of the highway quickly by going over the speed limit (didn't care as long they're safe) to avoid the drunk driver, but then... Life flashed by for Silver as the drunken driver's car made impact to the unfortunate family.

Yet Silver miraculously survived the crash with minor injuries, but who or what saved him is still a mystery to him. The last detail he remembered is that he's in the Chaotix Orphanage, resting in a couch with a young yet mature six-year old Espio telling him the news about his parents fate of the car accident. Silver did take the news very badly; bawling on a near-by pillow with his 'never ending tears', losing his parents like this. However, Espio, knowing how it feels to lose parents at a young age, comforted Silver by saying, "_They're not gone forever. Your parents are in a safe place called heaven where they'll watch you grow up below. You can't see it, but I know it exist since my parents are in heaven."_

Hearing that from Espio, the young Silver wiped his tears from his eyes and gave out a tiny smile after knowing his parents will watch him forever, even in death. And with his parents are in a safe place, Silver has to grow up in a safe place, and he ended up in the Chaotix Orphanage; growing up with Espio and other orphans like him.

But even after nine years growing up in this orphanage, neither Silver nor Espio got adopted by any family for some reason. One family stated why they aren't adopted is because the two are the reason the young orphans are still optimistic and free. And it's true.

Now almost sixteen, Silver takes the role of being a brother figure to most of the orphans living here, along with Espio. And when these two enter the three storied building, the little kids from ages three to eight came rushing towards the two high school teens, hugging them as hard as he can. Most of them hugged Silver so hard, he lost his balance, falling to the wooden floor.

"H... Hey you guys!" Silver greeted the orphans. "I'm back from school!"

"Yea! That means we can play, right?" one orphan asked Silver.

Silver really wanted to, but with homework on his back, he answered, "Sorry. I have some homework I need to complete."

"Awww," the kids groaned in disappointment.

"But I'll play with you guys after dinner. I promise," Silver promised, hearing the orphans cheer for what's going to happen later in the day.

With the orphans that were hugging Espio, none of them hugged him hard, but one always did despite the warnings he gives out to this certain boy. His hug could break his ribs and possibly stab his heart. That kid would be...

"Charlie. Let go," Espio simply commanded the small boy.

"Oh, come on! I was bored after school and I simply have nothing left to do," Charlie whined to his brother figure, releasing him from his hug. "And how many times do I have to remind you, Espio! Call me Charmy! Not Charlie! I hate that name!"

Charlie Blythe, or Charmy due to his hyper personality, is an eight-year-old orphan who's family decided to ditch him since birth due to the fact his parents had him when they're only fifteen, and didn't want him ruining their 'lives'. But that didn't bother him as he thinks the orphanage caretaker is like a dad to him, along with Espio and Silver being his older brothers, mainly the former. And if Espio and Silver are acting like the older brothers, then Charmy acted like the annoying little brother! Stealing their personal items from their room, pulled pranks on them (mainly Espio), making their chores much more difficult than needed, and other stuff he can think of in his immature head.

Heck, he even looked like one! Standing at only 4'6 ft, having big brown-orange eyes, black messy hair, wearing an orange vest under his black shirt and khaki pants.

Still, Charmy is one of the most optimistic little orphans living here, never wanting anyone to cry when he's around. Why add 'one'? Well...

Before going upstairs to his room, Silver noticed that all but one certain young orphan is missing from the crowd. He knows where that missing orphan is: either the kitchen or the backyard. His first guess is the kitchen, knowing that orphan loves to take a small snack before dinner begins in six, mainly something sweet. When he peeked his head to the kitchen door, he can only see two people preparing for dinner, something involving rice, but no sign of the kid. That means the kid is hiding. Great.

However, Silver remembered Cream offering him her remaining strawberry cupcake during lunch, but he forgot he had it, yet lucky he did at the same time. He searched for the cupcake inside his backpack, and with only a few shuffles coming out of his backpack, he found it, still sealed inside a Ziploc bag, surprisingly not crushed.

He entered the kitchen, holding the plastic bag with the small cake, and yelled, "Marine! I'm home!"

Nothing. No words even came out of the two people preparing dinner. She sure is a feisty one alright.

Silver removed the cupcake from the Ziploc bag, putting it close to his mouth while announcing, "Come out right now! Captain Silver has gotten a sweet cupcake from Cream, and I'd hate to eat it all by my-"

Those words are enough to make the cupcake disappear from Silver's hand and into the missing girl's hands: Marine Ranta. She's taller than Charmy by only 3 inches (4'9 ft), having brown hair tied into two downward pigtails, blue eyes, slight pale skin, wearing a green tank-top, black shorts and a golden compass necklace Silver gave to her on her 9th birthday last week.

Marine, finishing her cupcake, greeted Silver in a friendly tone, blue eyes full of sparkles (not literally), "Captain Silver! Welcome back! How was school?"

Oh, how Silver didn't want to answer this question. But not wanting to make Marine sad, he responded, "Great, like always!"

"Well that's good to hear from you, captain! And thanks for giving me this amazing cupcake from shipmate Cream!"

Captain? Shipmate? Silver is used to Marine saying pirate terms because unlike most girls her age, Marine absolutely loves anything with pirates or adventure; better for Marine if it's both. She always had dreams of exploring the world one day, and maybe find her missing parents if possible.

That's why she's in the Chaotix Orphanage. Marine's parents were famous explorers who vanished two years after sailing to the 'cursed' Bermuda Triangle, and when Marine heard the news from her family friends, she thought it was a joke and they'll come back like they always do. But two years passed and no sign if they're alive or dead, yet Marine is still positive that they'll be reunited one day, not whining and crying unlike most people who think their parents are dead.

Silver liked that about Marine. She's the most optimistic and energetic orphan in here, more than Charmy. Never the girl to cry over petty things or to give up on anything, Marine remains a strong girl both inside and outside. Though while she's very optimistic, there are two flaws that somewhat bothers everyone in some way, even Silver.

"And speaking of Cream, did you ask her what makes her cupcakes taste so delicious?" Marine asked Silver.

"Um... Well, I-" Silver tried to answer until Marine pops in and interrupts him.

"Why do I want to know? Well, I know her and her mother's recipes are secret, but I want to know how to make them on my own in time for someone's birthday coming up in a few days! And that reminds me, do you know what kind of gift..."

Yeah. One: she's extremely curious on everything. From what's going on with the world to learning how to cook and even the desire to find out if vampires exist after reading Twilight (of all novels). And two: chatterbox, though not that annoying as Charmy's. Once she starts talking, Marine will jump into one topic to the next in less than ten to twenty seconds, making it impossible to stop her motor mouth. But despite those flaws, she remained well-liked to the orphanage.

"... I thought about giving her a doll, but that's just plain boring," Marine continued to Silver. "And I was thinking making a charm bracelet out of seashells. Only problem is that I don't know how to make a charm bracelet."

"Why don't you ask the others?" Silver suggested, picking up his backpack back to his shoulder, "Maybe they'll teach you."

"I don't know Captain Silver. The shipmates here are a bit younger than me, so I doubt they'll know anything about making jewelry. And I don't think shipmate Espio would have any interest in making a bracelet."

"Yeah, he wouldn't," Silver agreed with Marine. Espio somehow doesn't like to make any type of jewelry such as necklaces or bracelets as they're too girly for his taste. "How about-"

But before Silver can make another suggestion to Marine, Charmy stormed into the kitchen, almost knocking down both Silver and Marine before the young boy can scream out, "Vector! Is it done? Tell me dinner is done because I'm hungry and bored!"

"Charlie, get back here!" Espio yelled, entering the kitchen, annoyed Charmy is barging into the kitchen to annoy Vector. Again. And like always, bugging him on what's for dinner. Espio then warned Charmy with, "You better not disturb Vector making dinner. If you do, then no-"

CRASH!

"Dinner for you," Espio finished his sentence, face-palming himself after Charmy crashed into his legal guardian: Vector Maher. With the harsh impact, Vector accidentally dropped the pot of rice porridge into the ground, making a mess on the floor and getting onto Vector's green shirt and faded jeans.

Vector is the one who rescued Espio twelve years ago, along with others in the past, and is one of the few helpers working in the Orphanage full time, not to mention part owner of this orphanage as well; the other half belonged to his brother who he rarely sees. Generous, sympathetic and selfless are words people would describe Vector, but sometimes when he gets frustrated like now...

"CHARMY! It took me an hour to get that ready!" Vector scolded Charmy. "Now I have to do it again, and dinner will start later than usual!"

He loses control of his temper, but there's no violence involved when is temper blows up fortunately.

Grabbing a towel from the counter, Silver started wiping the porridge off the floor while Marine freshened the room by spraying Febreze into the kitchen to prevent it from smelling like chicken soup for the rest of the day. Espio grabbed the empty pot, and started to wash the inside of it with a bottle of dish soap. Vector sighed in relief, seeing that Silver and Espio were generous to help him with cleaning up the mess, and the older green haired man gave a bat-like stare to Charmy, backing up in fear until he bonked his head from the door.

"Now Charmy, what do you have to say to yourself?" Vector asked, now up close to Charmy's face.

Charmy, not handling Vector's intimidating glare, burst into tears and cried, "I'M SORRY VECTOR! Please don't make me starve tonight! I'm so sorry! Forgive me! Vector, please don't send me to my room without dinner! Just give me a small portion of what we're having! I..."

"Alright, alright. I won't punish you," Vector replied in defeat of Charmy's dramatic apology, "but you're going to help me cook dinner to make up for the mess you made me do. You got that?"

"Yea!"

But before the two can start making another pot of rice porridge, the phone ringed through the whole kitchen, only for the ringing to stop when Espio answered the phone after the third ring.

"Hello, Chaotix Orphanage," Espio started, putting the clean pot near the oven.

_"Oh, it's you," _the voice spoke in a bored tone.

Espio recognized the voice from the phone, and he knew Shadow is talking to him. Shadow volunteers in their neighborhood library at least three to four days after school for an unknown reason, but he always helps out if it's worth his time. And the library is worth his time as Shadow reads to the little kids, organize the books very well, and knowing which book is available or not.

Mind back on this phone call, Espio continued the conversation with Shadow by asking him, "Shadow, what is it?"

_"I didn't expect you to pick up this call, so can you tell Vector that the books he asked for are here? There's five children books and a novel about angels, and I don't want anyone else to take them."_

"Vector is busy making dinner. He's doing it again because Charlie made a mess in the kitchen again."

"I was hungry!" Charmy called out to Espio, overhearing Espio's comment.

Ignoring the comment from Charmy, Espio sighed and went back on the phone with Shadow. "Anyway, Venice and I can pick up the books once we're done with our homework. Is that okay with you, Shadow?"

_"Yeah. As long as you get them, it doesn't matter to me. And be here before six. Got it?"_ Shadow added.

"Got it, Shadow," Espio answered back, ending the call. He turned to Silver, who's finished with cleaning the floor from the porridge. "Venice, once we're done with homework, we need to pick up books from the library. You got it?"

"I do, and the only homework I have is from Geometry, so I'll be able to finish up quickly," Silver agreed, ready to leave the kitchen. However, he stopped as Marine was tugging on parts of his pants, knowing she has something to tell Silver.

He turned around and asked Marine nicely, "Marine, is there something you want to tell me?"

"Yes, Captain Silver," Marine started, "Can I go to the library with you?"

"Why?"

"I need to see if there's a book on how to make charm bracelets. So can I go?"

Silver only needed two seconds to answer Marine's request. He responded with, "Of course! At least you know how to behave in the library unlike a 'certain shipmate'."

"Hey!" Charmy yelled once again, knowing Silver is talking about Charmy. This boy and his hyper personality will make Shadow blow his temper, and will literally make a mess out of the library if Charmy sets foot on a library. No wait, **any** library as a matter of fact.

Marine jumped up and down in joy, cheering, "Thank you Captain Silver! Tell me when we're going, and I'll be there!"

"Okay, Marine," Silver nodded in agreement, going upstairs and into his room to work on his math homework.

* * *

~Library 5:00 (Blaze)~

_Where's the book I was looking for?_ Blaze thought, searching through the shelves of the various of teen novels again. She wanted to read a book about angels, but it wasn't there. Blaze likes to read novels about the abnormal, though most of them feature the protagonist falling in love with their 'prince charming', and it's one of the few ways to get her mind away from events that happen in school.

Sighing that the book she desired to read wasn't there, Blaze scanned through the shelves to see if there's any novels worth reading to her. She didn't want to read books about vampires since Twilight made her incinerate the book after reading the first chapter, and she can tell that the plots with vampires are too predictable.

The books she spotted ranged from realistic romance to a remake of a popular fairy tale and two siblings having powers and running away from the cursed government. While the last two seemed interesting to Blaze, it wasn't enough for her to get the book. She really needed to find at least one book that will make her re-read it to get her mind off of her day. Especially the parts where Silver was involved.

Blaze was about to continue to look until a book with a cover of a boy and a girl was just lying there open. She picked up the book and read the title of the fallen novel.

"Battle Royale." Blaze muttered the title to herself. Based from the title, she knew it wasn't a fantasy novel, but an action novel. However, Blaze wanted to know more about the book, and flipped to the back of the novel where she read the summary on what it's going to be about. Seeing the words 'nightmare scenario' and 'violent exploitation' made Blaze wanting to rent the book. Controversial books sometimes interest Blaze since she wants to know what makes the book gain that title. Finished reading the summary of the novel, Blaze smiled to herself as she held it close to her chest.

She then grabbed a magazine called _Glitter _out of the magazine section, mainly to make dumb remarks about the models in there. Some remarks she made were how skinny they were, the diets they advised, and the gaudy and revealing clothes they would wear. And girls wanted to be like them? As if. Blaze knew girls in her old school would **literally** kill themselves to have a body like the models, and will whine about gaining a pound or saying how ugly they look when they look fine. It's ridiculous for Blaze to see girls to act like this. And Blaze is the lucky girls who doesn't care for looks, unless it's a special occasion.

_Dumb models,_ Blaze scoffed as she hid the magazine behind the Battle Royale book. She left the young adult section and went to the section where novels with stronger themes were and wanted to give her mom one. Mainly the ones written by Nicholas Sparks.

* * *

~Library 5:15 (Silver)~

Silver, Espio, and Marine entered the library quietly when shortly after their arrival, they were greeted by Shadow. He had tan skin, crimson eyes, short black hair with red streaks, wearing a black shirt, two golden bracelets, one in each side, black pants, and white air shoes. Shadow walked to the three, hands in his jean pockets, and guided the three to the shelves where the books that were on the wait-list were ready to be picked up.

"Well, here's the books that Vector asked for," Shadow told the three. "They're due in September 26, so remind Vector about that."

"Will do, Shadow," Espio responded calmly, carrying the books.

"And Silver..."

Silver somewhat shuttered in surprise as he didn't expect Shadow to call him. "Y... yes, Shadow?"

"I know this is unusual for me to ask you a question, but answer to me honestly. Did you get soaked with milk in lunch by a girl?"

_Crap._ Silver cursed in his mind. He didn't want to hear that again; especially not in front of Marine!

Marine, oblivious to what Shadow is talking about, she asked Silver, "Captain Silver, what is this mate talking about? Did you forget to tell me something I don't know?"

_She's on to me! _Silver panicked inside his mind, and still calm on the outside, Silver told Marine, "Um... Marine, why don't you get your book while I talk with Shadow. Okay?"

Nodding her head, Marine walked away from Silver and to the isle full of guide books on how to make a certain item, mainly jewelry to sweets. Seeing Marine gone to not hear Silver's blunder, Silver sighed in relief and turned his attention back to Shadow.

"Oh, the question. Well, yes it's true," Silver answered to Shadow.

"Okay. And what made her do that action towards you?" Shadow questioned Silver.

"I accidentally ruined her lunch by kicking a soccer ball right into her tray, spilling her lunch into her hair and clothes."

"Soccer?" Shadow knew Silver didn't play soccer, so he wanted to know why he kicked a soccer ball during lunch.

"Knuckles kicked a ball in my back and-"

"I got it," Shadow understood what the silver-haired teen was going to say next. He knew that because Knuckles did that to Shadow once! And the scene with the two wasn't pretty to see. Getting that off his head, he asked one more question, "Anything else?"

"Well, I did offered her some help to get new clothes."

"And her response...?"

"Take a wild guess on what happened," Silver replied, knowing Shadow will get it.

Shadow didn't need to as he knew what happened to Silver, even if he didn't witnessed it.

"I think she soaked me in milk is because she never received any help from anyone, besides her parents," Silver continued. "But I want to ask her right now if that's true."

"Might be," Shadow answered. "And one more question. Is the girl you were talking about named Blaze?"

Silver's eyes widen in surprise when he heard Shadow asking him this question. He cleared his throat, and questioned Shadow, "How did you-"

"Sonic told me during track practice," Shadow told Silver like it was petty news. "Does the girl in your story had mid-long lavender hair, yellow eyes, and wearing magenta high heels?"

"Yes," Silver answered.

"She's here and you can ask her right now," Shadow added, randomly pointing to some shelf, thinking Blaze is there.

Silver bolted away from the pick-up shelves, frantically but silently searching for Blaze right now. She couldn't possibly be in the kid's section, so Silver tried the non-fiction side, sci-fi section, and the books about how to operate a certain computer program, but no sign of Blaze anywhere. Maybe she left and Shadow didn't see her at all. Or she's in another section.

He was later joined with Espio who's holding the six books tight to his chest. Espio wanted to meet this girl and, like Silver, wanted to know if Silver's explanation is true.

"Well? Found that girl?" Espio asked Silver, taking in deep breaths.

"Not yet," Silver breathed out, "but Blaze has to be here. I just-"

"Hey! Get down from there, kid!" a voice echoed through the fiction section. Silver and Espio turned around to see who yelled, and both of their eyes widen in horror as they spotted Marine clinging onto one of the shelves with her charm bracelet book and Blaze standing there with her arms crossed, yelling at her, a fallen stool laying sideways. But why would Marine be-

_Oh, crap. Why? _Silver and Espio both groaned at the same time in their minds. They remembered Marine recently took a liking towards James Patterson novels, and saw Marine trying to grab a book titled Danial X from the shelves, but once she grabbed the novel, she started to fall from letting go of the shelves. Silver was about to use his psychokinesis powers to save her, but before he or Espio did anything, Blaze quickly jumped in the air, dropping her two books and magazine, and snatched a surprised Marine in her arms.

Both Silver and Espio remained speechless on what Blaze has done. She just saved Marine from getting an injury. Silver was the most surprised as he didn't expect Blaze to save Marine like that. He thought she would let Marine fall, but she ended up saving her in the end.

Blaze gently let go of Marine while she picked up her two books and magazine off the floor. She gave the pigtailed girl a small smile before she asked Marine, "Are you okay?"

"Uh... yes mate," Marine nervously answered. "I'm okay."

"Good. Next time, be a bit more careful. You might hurt yourself if you pull that stunt again."

But before she can leave, Marine snatched _Glitter_ magazine out of Blaze's hands, flipping through various of pages until she stopped at a certain one. Marine then rushed to Silver and Espio, who were on their way to the fiction section, and shoved the magazine close to their faces in excitement.

"Marine!" both of the boys called out. "Thank-"

But they didn't get to finish their sentence as Marine interrupted them about the picture she wanted to show them. "Look, look, look mates! There's Rouge on the ad for Swan Ice Cream! Doesn't she look beautiful, mates?"

"She sure does," Silver agreed with Marine.

"Uh-huh," Espio answered dully, not caring about models.

Silver had to admit, Rouge did look fantastic in that picture. Tan skin, short white hair tied in a small ponytail, and aquamarine eyes with blue eye shadow, it's Rouge alright. In the ad, Rouge is wearing a golden dress that shows off her curves perfectly and not too much of her chest, along with high heels showing her strong legs. She's shown smiling and winking one of her eyes while eating her ice cream. It's no wonder Rouge got scouted.

Blaze somewhat saw Rouge's picture in the magazine, and asked Marine, "Do you know her?"

Marine was about to tell Blaze, but Silver answered to her before Marine had the chance. "Yes. Her name is Rouge Bayle, and she's one of my friends."

Noticing Silver is here in the library, Blaze thought to herself, _Why the hell is he here?_ before responding back to Silver, "Then how come I didn't see her with you?"

"She had to do some photo shoots for some advertisements," Silver explained to Blaze.

"Oh," said Blaze in a flat tone. "And why are you here?"

"To pick up books. And I want to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"Is the reason you refused my help is you never received help from anyone besides your parents?"

Blaze's eyes grew in shock when Silver asked her a question. She never heard anyone attempting to ask her that kind of question before. Why won't he leave her alone? Why? Why?

Instead of answering Silver, Blaze grabbed the magazine from Marine's hands before she walked to the check out center. But before she was away from Silver, Marine, and Espio, the girl she saved walked towards her with a huge smile pasted on her face.

"What?" Blaze questioned the small girl.

"Thank you for saving me. I thought I was going to worry Captain Silver and Espio for a moment," Marine thanked Blaze.

"Yeah. It's no problem. And shouldn't you be advised by your siblings or something?"

"I don't have siblings, but Silver and Espio are like my older brothers to me," Marine explained to Blaze.

"Really?"

"Yep. All three of us live at the Chaotix Orphanage."

Wait. Orphanage?

Blaze didn't think Silver would be an orphan. He didn't even look like one! She thought Silver would live in a large house in a somewhat high class neighborhood with parents having great jobs. But hearing this from this girl she barely knew for two minutes totally shattered what Blaze thought about Silver's life outside of school.

Marine, seeing the look on Blaze's face, asked, "Something wrong, mate?"

"N... no. It's nothing... Uh..." Blaze tried to answer, though she's struggling as she didn't know this girl's name.

"Marine Ranta is my name if you want to know," Marine informed Blaze. "What's your name?"

Should Blaze tell Marine her name like she did with Amy at school? Or could she just not say her name?

Not deciding what to do with her mind scrambled, she answered, "Blaze." in a nervous tone before quickly going to the check out center, leaving a confused Marine turning her head to the left.

Silver and Espio caught up to her again, looking at Marine on what happened with her. Espio gave Marine a 'Are you crazy' glance before asking her:

"What's up with her?" Espio questioned Marine.

"Not sure," Marine answered back to Espio, "but she seemed a bit shy. Right, Silver?"

No response.

"Silver?" Marine called to the silver-haired teen, eyes not blinking.

Nothing.

"Venice Faust, respond," Espio ordered Silver who blinked his eyes.

"Oh, uh... sorry. I kind of dozed off for a moment," Silver apologized to Espio.

Believing what Silver had said, Espio guided Marine to the check out center to rent her two books, leaving Silver behind.

The reason Silver dozed off for a while is that he didn't get an answer from Blaze on why she didn't accept his help. He thought Blaze would answer, but she ended up walking away from him. Great.

Though on the bright side, Silver did witness Blaze having a sweet side to her by saving Marine from her fall. Maybe Blaze isn't a mean girl. Maybe she's a nice girl who had a rough past, causing her to act like this; pushing others away in order to avoid getting hurt. Silver didn't get his answer today, but he wanted to do something no one dared to do to Blaze in ten years:

Get to know her a bit better. Starting tomorrow.

* * *

**Author's Note: WHEW! It took four days to write this chapter, and it's done! Also, it's the introduction of Charlie (Charmy), Marine, Shadow (even if it's short) and Rouge (though she's in a picture)!**

**Now for the names. This time, we're doing Silver/Venice! Venice was suppose to be Silver's name for Sonic '06, named after the city Soleanna is based on, but was scrapped. Venice (somehow a girl's name) is Latin (oddly) for "favor, giving", as Silver is generous to do favors for others. The last name Faust is Latin (again) for "fortunate"; Silver being fortunate that he has great friends and living a good life despite losing his parents as a kid.  
**

**The book that I mentioned, Battle Royale by Koushun Takami is controversial and violent; having gory images, mention of 'that', and 14-15 year old teens killing each other. If you can't handle what the novel offers, then don't read it. (Despite this, I love the book and the movie!)**

**And yes, I love James Patterson's work (mainly the Maximum Ride series).**

**Again, I don't own Sonic, and you can guess who owns that series.**

**Also, thanks for the 500 views and the great reviews! If you like the story, don't forget to review! And please have proper grammar when writing the reviews. I had a hard time reading some of them.  
**


	5. Plans, Drama Queens, and the BR

~Thursday 8:10 A.M~

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FREAKIN' MIND, SILVER?" Knuckles yelled to Silver, kicking his car seat with as much force as he can. Now how did Knuckles get into Espio's car in the first place?

Silver and Espio spotted Knuckles and Tikal walking to school, but Silver asked the Shard siblings if they wanted a ride to school. Knuckles declined the offer at first, but decided to take the offer after seeing some kid in his History class flirting with Tikal. And was there violence involved with that kid? No, luckily.

Then how come Knuckles is kicking Silver's seat? It's obviously not because he felt like it, or taking his anger on him after seeing someone flirting with Tikal, but it's more like he heard Silver coming up with an insane idea; having no idea what to say to the yellow-eyed teen. What was the idea Silver thought of?

"No I am not, Knuckles," Silver replied back. "I really want to do this."

"After what that girl did to you yesterday at lunch, you want to be friends with her? I don't think so!" Knuckles disagreed, still kicking the back of Silver's seat.

The idea of befriending Blaze. That's why Knuckles was kicking Silver's seat so hard, it's giving Silver a feeling he'll throw up his breakfast back up. Tikal, seeing Silver's expression that reads 'no more for god's sake', softly tapped her brother's shoulders and he turned to see his sister, while still kicking the seat in front of him.

"Kennith, please stop kicking Silver's seat!" Tikal advised her older brother. "That's not an appropriate way to disagree with an idea!"

"Yeah, Kennith," Espio agreed with Tikal, eyes still on the road. "Listen to your sister. You're making Venice queasy, and I don't want him to throw up."

Knuckles halted his feet mid-way from the seat, and set them down to the floor before saying, "Fine, fine. I'll stop. Happy?"

"Satisfied."

Relieved the kicking stopped from Knuckles, Silver took a deep breath before he said, "Thanks Espio. I thought I was going to get sick."

"No problem, Venice," Espio replied.

Silver turned to Knuckles, arms crossed out of annoyance, and continued his conversation with Knuckles before this situation started to go downhill.

"As I was saying Knuckles, I thought about it last night," Silver started again. "And I wanted to be friends with her for a few reasons."

"And that would be...?" questioned Knuckles, leaning back on his seat.

"From what I witnessed yesterday, she might have a nice side after she rescued Marine from falling in the library."

"What else?" Knuckles added in a bored tone, not believing when Silver said Blaze might be nice.

"This is the main reason. I feel like she's the girl who had a very rough past."

Those words were enough to make Knuckles' and Tikal's mouth to drop pretty wide, not expecting Silver to say those words at all. The girl who soaked Silver in milk yesterday had a rough past behind her back? That's unexpected.

Closing his mouth back, Knuckles cleared his throat before asking, "What do you mean by rough past?"

"I assumed she was bullied throughout her life both physically and mentally for some reason, and because of the constant pain she endured for years, she decided not to trust anyone to prevent herself from getting hurt again," Silver explained to the Shard siblings.

Eyes now wide from Silver's explanation of 'rough past', Knuckles added, "So she's acting like a bitch because she was constantly bullied?" hoping he was right.

"Yes," Silver answered, somewhat growling when Knuckles said 'that' word. In front of Tikal of all people, but she's mature to handle words like that right now. "And that's the reasons why I wanted to be friends with Blaze."

"Well, I guess it wouldn't be such a bad idea," Tikal agreed with Silver. "She doesn't look like a girl who would be trouble."

Knuckles face-palmed himself hearing Tikal saying those words, but he had to agree with her. Not because Tikal is the younger sister, but about Blaze not looking like a troublemaker got him saying, "Sure. It might work out, but I'm not sure if Sonic and Tails would think it's a good idea."

"Huh?" both Silver and Espio, the latter still focused on the road, said at the same time in confusion; not knowing what Knuckles is talking about.

"Well, the two kind of disliked her after the incident, and muttered she's a loner with no heart," Knuckles explained. "That's kind of harsh for the two saying that."

And everyone in the car agreed with Knuckles' statement. Sonic and Tails were never quick to judge anybody no matter what, but after meeting Blaze yesterday during lunch, they just threw in the thought of Blaze being a heartless girl. They were never quick to judge before knowing the person much better. It's probably the first time Sonic and Tails had ever done this in their life. But that was just one day. Maybe with Silver talking it out to them, their thoughts of Blaze being a heartless girl will go away and will get to know her better.

After that comment made by Knuckles, the car remained silent from the four teens and the only noise during the car ride were the engine and the mix CD Tikal had made a couple of months ago. The last song ended, and the car remained in silence before a guitar strum echoed through the speakers, followed by a male singer.

_She's the girl that no one ever knows_

_And I say 'hi' but she's too shy to say 'hello'_

_She's just waiting for that one to take her hand_

_And shake her up._

_I bet I could._

Silver thought about how today is going to be like while he hummed to himself to this song. Blaze is the girl that wasn't offered help; ignored by others like she's a nobody, and Silver might be the one who can change her rough and lonely world. He bet he could.

_I wish my heart was always on her mind_

_'Cause she's on mine like all day, all the time_

Thoughts of Blaze were glued into Silver's mind since yesterday, from their first unfortunate encounter to rescuing Marine from breaking her skull. He thought of Blaze all day yesterday during class, dinner with the orphans, and even when he was showering! He can't shake her off yesterday, and now today! It's like his mind is sending him a message to know Blaze a bit better, and be her friend; her first friend to be exact if Silver's words were true. He wonders if he's on Blaze's mind right now?

_Forget me not, forget me now_

_I've come too far to turn around_

_I'm here-_

The song suddenly stopped, and Silver's mind snapped back into reality as the car stood still in the student parking lot. Silver grabbed his backpack, and exited the car, along with Espio and the Shard siblings. The four were about to walk to the main building of Emerald High, until they heard a loud 'Thud!' noise echoing through the parking lot. They turned around to see who or what caused the noise, and only Knuckles figured out what the noise is. The red-head teen spotted a man with short purple hair in a beige suit, frantically picking up the fallen textbooks from the ground and sheets of paper flying in the air near what appears to be his blue Nissan car.

Knuckles soon started to walk to the man, before being stopped by Tikal, grabbing his tan hand. He turned around to his little sister before Tikal asked him, "What are you doing?"

"Uh, helping out my new Geometry teacher, Mr. Jewel," Knuckles told his sister before letting go of his sister's hand. "You're going to help, right guys?"

Silver, Espio, and Tikal nodded in agreement as they went to Knuckles' teacher who is now running to the flying paper, but tripped on his laces before he can snatch it. Seeing the paper flying towards him, Silver used his powers to stop the paper from flying, and handed it to Mr. Jewel who is now getting back up.

"Oh, thank you lad," Mr. Jewel said, wiping the dust from his suit. "That paper is really important. It's one of the student's graded test from two days ago."

"No problem, sir," Silver replied back to the Geometry teacher. "Do you mind if we help you carry that stuff to your classroom?"

"You sure?"

"Of course, Mr. Jewel!" Knuckles said, already carrying at least ten textbooks in his arms. "We wouldn't let you carry all that stuff by yourself!"

"Thanks, Kennith," his Geometry teacher replied back to Knuckles.

Knuckles had Mr. Jewel as his Geometry teacher since this Monday (schedule change), and he started to like him for not his fantastic teaching style, but the fact that he's one of the more sympathetic teachers in this school. Sure, Knuckles doesn't talk to Mr. Jewel for his personal problems, but he did overhear a few conversations with some students while entering the classroom a few minutes early or doing his classwork. Some of the things Knuckles heard his Geometry teacher talk about with the students were parental abuse at home, worries of a friend wanting to commit suicide, dealing with anorexia, trying to balance school work and time with family, coping with a death of a loved one, and so much more Knuckles can think of. He sure does know how to give advise to various of situations despite being a Geometry teacher.

Mr. Jewel, along with Tikal, picked up the remaining graded tests from the ground while Silver levitated most of the textbooks and Espio carrying the rest of the math books with no problem. Once they were finished with what they needed, the five entered the school building with some people greeting them, "Good morning!" while passing by.

"So," Silver started while waving to his fellow classmates at the hall, "where's your room Mr. Jewel?"

"On the third floor, Room 340," Mr. Jewel informed Silver.

"You sure?" questioned Tikal, not happy of hearing where the room is located.

"Yes, but we can take the elevator if you-"

"Sure! Let's take it!" all the teens agreed with the Mr. Jewel's suggestion despite not completing it. It's not that they were lazy, but the fact they didn't want to climb all the way to the third floor this early is just torture!

While waiting for the elevator door to open, Mr. Jewel turned to Knuckles and asked him, "Kennith, can you introduce me to your friends? That way, I can thank you for the help you offered today."

Knuckles gave a quick nod to his teacher before pointing to Tikal and started talking about his sister. "Remember on Monday that I mentioned I have a little sister?"

"Yes." Mr. Jewel remembered clearly. **Clearly **because Knuckles gave a vicious message to the boys in the classroom on not to 'mess' with his sister when he's around.

"This is her," Knuckles continued, patting Tikal's head. "Tikal Shard. A freshman here."

"Nice to meet you, Tikal," Mr. Jewel greeted the orange-haired girl.

"Uh... It's nice to meet you, sir," Tikal replied back, bowing her head down. Sometimes Tikal can get too formal when it comes to people, even more than Cream and Vanilla combined.

Ignoring what his sister did, Knuckles cleared his throat and pointed to Espio next. "Anyway, this guy is Takeshi Kaneko, but most people call him 'Espio' since he has some skills of a ninja."

"Really?" the teacher wondered.

"Yeah. He's one of the school's reporters for the Journalist Club, getting most secrets without being detected."

"It's true sir," Espio replied to Knuckles' explanation.

Now Knuckles pointed to Silver, still levitating the textbooks in the air. "And finally, this boy who's using his psychokinesis to levitate the books is Venice Faust, or 'Silver' due to his hair color."

"Hi there," Silver greeted the teacher.

"Well, you certainly have good friends with you, Kennith," Mr. Jewel commented.

The elevator door finally opened with a student in a wheel chair rolling out of the elevator, letting the five enter inside. Knuckles pressed the button that reads 3 to go up into the third floor. Once the doors closed, the elevator went up and in about a minute, they were on the third floor of the school; hallways completely empty with the exception of a few students just walking.

Now at Room 340, Mr. Jewel unlocked the door to let Tikal set the graded papers on his desk while Knuckles, Espio, and Silver set the textbooks on a few desks, with Silver letting the books land softly with no problem.

"I guess we should set them on a shelf," Silver suggested, "Or do you want us to put it underneath the desks Mr. Jewel?"

"Put them under the desk, Silver," Mr. Jewel told Silver.

Nodding to the Geometry teacher's suggestion, Silver levitated all the books in the air and one by one, the books were under the desks in less than thirty seconds. Checking to see if every desk had a textbook, Silver had a satisfied look on his face once he seen that all the desks have a Geometry book underneath.

"That takes care of the textbooks," Silver exclaimed, happy he could help out. "How are you doing with the papers, Mr. Jewel?"

"Just fine, Silver," the teacher answered. "I'm lucky that I have all of the papers here and graded."

"Well that's great news to here. Is there anything else you want us to do?"

When Silver asked Mr. Jewel that question, he only remained silent; fingers on his chin. He never wanted to say this to anyone, but with this young man asking him right now, it hit him in the head. Maybe... Just maybe... This could work.

Mr. Jewel cleared his throat, and he started talking. "Um... Well... I kind of have a daughter who's in her sophomore year..."

"And what about your daughter?" Espio asked, sitting on top of the desk.

"Throughout her life, she hasn't made one single friend and it's all because of what she had to deal with in the past."

"That's horrible!" Tikal gasped. "What happened to her?"

"She's been bullied by other classmates ever since she started school," Mr. Jewel answered.

"Why?"

"Because she was born..." he paused for a moment before finding the most appropriate word to describe his daughter, "... she was born different."

"Like she has asthma?" Knuckles guessed.

"No, but more like unusual gifts like you possessed," Mr. Jewel was referring to Knuckles and Silver who had super strength and psychokinesis respectively.

"So?" Silver said like Mr. Jewel's statement wasn't a big deal to him. "All of my friends have uncanny yet amazing gifts, and everyone at school is fine with it."

It's true. Sonic had super speed and is able to break the sound barrier faster than a jet, Tails can fly with his two tails for a period of time, Shadow is somehow able to stop time for a few moments, while Espio can turn himself invisible as long as he keeps his focus. For the girls, Amy can weld her Piko Piko Hammer just by using and twirling her pink heart diamond she wears on her headband, Cream is able to shrink herself for an unlimited time, Rouge has part bat DNA; possessing supersonic hearing and bat wings with a snap of a finger, while Tikal can read people's minds. And do people complain about their powers? Like with Silver's psychokinesis: no.

They are well liked with everyone for using their powers for good, not to mention having good personalities. Most of them are popular in their own way, but Silver is the most popular out of them all. Why? He's generous, easy to get along, great with sports despite not being in any team, involved with the school (mainly the Journalist Club), intelligent (not close to Tails'), and the best part: very kind to everyone. That's how Silver became popular: by being himself, even with his powers.

Silver continued his conversation with Mr. Jewel by saying, "And besides, she should be happy of having this 'gift' brought to her. Only 2% of the population were born with 'gifts' from God."

"He has a point," Espio and Knuckles agreed to Silver's statement.

"You do," Mr. Jewel also agreed, "So can you at least try to befriend her?"

"Sure." everyone said in agreement.

"So what's her name, anyway?" asked Silver.

"My daughter's name is Barbara Jewel," Mr. Jewel told the teens, "And do any of you guys have Ms. Robinson's English II Pre-AP class for 1st period?"

"Espio and I have her 1st period. We'll try and be nice to her. Okay, sir?"

Mr. Jewel nodded his head in agreement before the four teens left the classroom and go downstairs to talk to their friends in the courtyard, hoping they can tell them about the plans they have for today. Or in Mr Jewel's case, plan.

* * *

~1st Period: English (8:43 A.M) ~

Blaze entered the English classroom, with only having seven minutes to spare, and sat down in the middle seat of the first row of desks, pulling out her Battle Royale book to read. But before Blaze can start reading it, two girls were surrounding Blaze's desk, giving her nasty glares that would make little kids shiver in fear. And those two girls were the ones who gossiped about Blaze yesterday: Sally Acerbi and Mina Moore.

Sally had long brown hair tied up into a ponytail, slight tan skin, blue eyes, wearing a black tank top with a blue vest, a blue mini-skirt (**very **mini), and four inch black high heels. Mina had long blond hair with purple streaks, pale skin, green eyes, wearing a red blouse with some buttons undone to show off her cleavage, a frilly white skirt, and silver sparkly flats. Judging by the way those two dress, Blaze knew the two had to be 'popular' girls, and they surrounded her just to make rumors that are suppose to make anyone but her burst into tears.

"Hey, bitch!" Sally shouted to Blaze, though not loud enough to make Ms. Robinson turn her head. "This is my seat, so move!"

Nope. No rumors today. Sally wanted Blaze to move out of her seat. Why was this seat important to Sally anyway? Was there a crush who sat next in this desk? Or is it one of those gossip desk where a couple of friends pick some seats, and doesn't let anyone sit in there? How Blaze loathed girls for claiming desks for petty reasons.

Blaze decided not to move like Sally ordered her and read her book until Mina snatched the book from Blaze's hands and threw it near Ms. Robinson's desk, almost hitting the poor teacher!

"Didn't you hear what Sally said to you?" Mina yelled to Blaze up close, Blaze smelling the blond's strong perfume reeking of rotten apples to her. "Move!"

"No," Blaze adamantly refused the girl's orders. "Find another desk. It's no big deal."

Her head about to erupt with rage, Sally pushed Blaze to the floor very hard and threw Blaze's backpack at her to her chest. Sally stick her tongue at the lavender-haired girl while Mina laughed at her for her own pleasure after seeing Sally humiliating Blaze.

"Well, I asked nicely," said Sally in a venomous voice, "and this is what you get you bitch."

"Now go where the losers sit," Mina added, pointing to the front rows of desks.

"Excuse me ladies," Ms. Robinson's rose up from her desk while fixing up her rusty blond hair and her light pink short sleeved dress, walking to the girls. "Did you force Miss Barbara out of her seat?"

"Um... yeah," Sally and Mina answered with no regret in there, not to mention rudely in front of her teacher!

"Miss Sally and Miss Mina, I will not tolerate that kind of tone in my classroom," How Ms. Robinson hated that tone people, especially girls, give out to her. It's not only rude but annoying! "Not to mention your cruel actions towards Miss Barbara. Now I want you to apolo-"

"Apologize to this bitch? Hell no! She stole my seat," Sally snapped at the rusty blond teacher.

"Agreed, Sally. I don't want to apologize to this bitch!" Mina added, giving a high five to her brown-haired friend, laughing loud.

Those words the two girls said to Ms. Robinson made her drop her mouth and wanted the desire to write these two a referral sheet to them for not only using vulgar language in her classroom but harmed a girl just because of a desk. Using violence and harsh language in Ms. Robinson's classroom can either result in extra homework, a detention slip, or a referral sheet with a pass to the principal's office. However, before Ms. Robinson can warn Sally and Mina about giving them a referral sheet, another voice popped in; a voice that caused Sally and Mina to cease their laughing.

"Hey. You heard what Vanilla said. Apologize to this girl for your petty actions," a female voice ordered the two mean girls.

Sally and Mina shrieked when they knew who this voice belonged to: Luana 'Wave' Stark. Purple straight hair with magenta highlights that goes down to her waist, dark blue eyes with long eyelashes (not mascara), peach skin, wearing a black shirt with a picture of white feathers, a necklace with a red orb, faded loose jeans with a belt that has a purple sash, and red and pink Converse shoes, it's really her. No mistake.

Glaring at them once more, Wave growled, "Well? We're waiting."

Not having a choice, both Sally and Mina apologized frantically because Wave is watching them evilly. "We're sorry Blaze! Really!"

The two girls eventually ran away from Wave and Blaze until they tripped on some desks and ended up knocked out cold.

"Um... thank you Miss Luana for making these girls apologize," Ms. Robinson said to Wave, who's currently taking a seat near the desk Sally pushed Blaze.

"No problem," Wave replied to her English teacher. "It's pathetic to see them whining over a desk. They're messed up drama queens."

"I know. I better write a referral to them for what they did."

Ms. Robinson went back to her desk, pulling out two yellow sheets and a black pen and started filling the forms out. Oh, how those girls are going to **love** being at in-school suspension (ISS) for three days without their phones and make-up kits.

Wave looked at Blaze currently getting her Battle Royale book near Ms. Robinson's desk, and was about to go to the front when Wave yelled, "Hey! You can sit at the seat you were at earlier. Sally might sit at the front after this incident."

Blaze went back to the seat she was at earlier, and continued reading her book for a moment. Wave decided it would be a perfect time to talk to this girl she has never seen in her life while waiting for class to began.

"So, are you new here to Emerald High School?" Wave started her conversation.

"Yes, since this Monday," Blaze replied, eyes glued on her book.

"Seriously? I didn't even know you were in my English class."

"Well now you know. I rather not have people know I'm here."

"Why not? To avoid whiny drama queens like Sally and Mina?"

"What?" Blaze seemed confused on what Wave was talking about.

"If you want to know, Sally Acerbi is the school's biggest drama queen, not to mention has a craving for attention. She thinks the world revolves around her, and will do **anything** just for people to notice her," Wave explained, putting emphasis on 'anything'.

"What does this girl do to get attention?" asked Blaze, still focused on her book.

"Dress in the most revealing clothes, go out with every athlete in the whole school, make fun of the weak, all that junk whiny attention brats do. But Mina Moore is the one I can't stand."

"Why?" God, when is Blaze going to stop asking questions to this girl?

"Here's an equation for you. Annoying laugh plus boasting about everything plus singing annoying tunes equals what?"

"A diva."

"Yep. Those two girls are trouble and don't care about school; only their looks and statuses in popularity. And I still wonder how they even manage to get into Pre-AP English."

_Me too,_ Blaze thought.

After explaining Blaze about Sally and Mina, Wave face-palmed herself as she forgot something she should have done when she met the lavender-haired teen.

"I sometimes forget to introduce myself," Wave muttered to herself. "I'm Luana Stark, but most people call me by my middle name 'Wave'. Your name?"

Great. This is the second person in this school, other than her teachers, who asked Blaze to give out her name. Well, she did this to Amy, and considering what Wave did earlier, she should tell Wave her name.

"Barbara Jewel, though people call me 'Blaze'," she told her name to Wave.

Wave was about to ask Blaze why they call her that name when she spotted Sonic, Silver, Espio and Amy walking to class, chatting about something she doesn't care about. However, Amy caught a glance of Blaze, and ended up dashing towards her in a speed that made Sonic whistle; impressed she can run that fast.

"Oh my god, Blaze!" Amy excitingly exclaimed, sitting at the desk left to Blaze. "I didn't know we have this class together!"

_My god,_ Wave sighed, seeing Amy like this. She doesn't like Amy for acting all bubbly and somewhat whiny, but Wave somewhat gets along with Amy as her attitude isn't like Sally's or Mina's (fortunately).

Silver, however, dropped his mouth when he spotted Blaze in this classroom. She's in this class, too? How did Silver not notice her in the past three days? It's like... like... like she was ghost in those previous days! Espio's only reaction to this is his eyes grew in surprise just by seeing Blaze for the first time in this class. Sonic... Well... He's just frantically waving his arms like there's no tomorrow; his mind being blown to bits just by seeing this heartless loner again! In this class!

_Why, fate?_ Sonic's mind screamed, taking a seat in the second row, face on the desk.

"It's too early to take a nap, Sonic," a voice told Sonic.

Sonic lifted his head off the desk and saw the person who made him put his face up: Jet Hawkins. Green hair with a few red streaks tied up into a small ponytail, sky blue eyes, slightly tanner skin than Sonic's, wearing a green hoodie decorated with black flames on the sleeves, black jeans and red Vans, Jet is Wave's closest friend and Sonic's rival when it comes to Extreme Gear: a sport using boards that hover in the air. Most of the time, their races are more friendly compared to the first time where it ended up violent, having scars that lasts for months. And the races also was about who's the fastest in the air, but they never got it right no matter how many races because it always ends up in a tie. Well, it's going to happen one day in the future. One day.

Seeing Jet, Sonic greeted him in a very bored tone. "Oh, hey Jet."

"Don't tell me you're too tired this morning," Jet wondered, knowing Sonic isn't like this in the mornings. He's all alive and cheerful most of the time, but this morning he's all... this.

"No," Sonic answered. "I'm annoyed because I have to see the heartless loner in this class!"

"Huh?"

Sonic pointed to Blaze, who's currently listening to Amy talk about the English project they're going to be assigned today.

"Who's she?" Jet asked while taking a seat next to Sonic in the third row, never seeing that girl before until now.

"Oh, that's Blaze," Silver informed Jet. "She's a new student who transferred here about three days ago."

"How come I didn't notice her until now?"

"That's the same thing I was wondering right now."

"And is her name really Blaze?"

"I don't know. I assume it's her nickname and maybe she hates her real name," Silver pointed out, setting his backpack on the floor.

Normally, Silver would sit next to Sonic in this class, but since he wants to get to know Blaze a bit better (unknowing to him: Barbara Jewel), he got up from his current seat, grabbing his backpack off the floor, and sat behind Blaze, causing Sonic to once again wave his arms frantically; hitting Jet a few times.

"Have you lost your mind, Vennie?" Sonic yelled to Silver. "You're going to get humiliated again!"

"Stop hitting me, dummy!" Jet ordered Sonic, rubbing his cheek. "And chill out for god's sake."

"Listen to Jet, Ryan. You really need to relax before you blow your volcano," Espio told Sonic, writing in his planner.

Ignoring Sonic's warnings, Silver turned to Blaze who's currently listening to Amy, and Amy stopped talking when she noticed Silver sitting behind Blaze.

"Hey Silver!" Amy greeted her friend. "What brings you here?"

"Oh, I just wanted to sit near Blaze just-" But Silver didn't finish his sentence when decided to cut in.

"Because you wanted to make up what happened yesterday. Am I right Silver?"

"Yes, and because of 'that plan' I told you before we got here," Silver answered to Amy, putting air quotes on that plan.

Amy understand what Silver ment by 'that plan'. She agreed to that idea quickly because trying to be friends with Blaze sounds like a great idea to her since she loves to make new friends. However, Amy needs to tell Silver about his second plan because of one reason: he doesn't know that Blaze's real name is Barbara Jewel, Mr. Jewel's daughter who requested Silver to befriend! Silver needs to know so he doesn't confused, though it will involve him somewhat having a heart attack.

But Amy spotted Silver trying to talk to Blaze, and decided not to tell him until the moment is right. Maybe in this class.

"Oh, you're in this class?" Blaze asked in a harsh tone.

"Yeah," Silver answered, "and I decided to sit behind you today because I still want to make up what happen yesterday."

"Is it that big of a deal?"

"Yes! Like I said yesterday, I'll do anything to make it up to you! Anything!"

"You sure?"

"I swear to god, yes!"

Well there goes Blaze's wish on Silver forgetting about her. But somehow, this guy doesn't seem to give up on her. She pushed him away twice yesterday, and yet he's still happy and acted like yesterday never happened.

_"He's the nicest guy you'll ever meet in your whole life."_

Hearing those words in her mind, Blaze thought about what Sonic said is true. And by witnessing what's going on right now, maybe those words are true. Maybe enough to make Blaze to give Silver another chance.

BRIIINGG! The bell ringed through the whole school, and 1st period English, along with the whole school day, is about to begin. However, instead of Ms. Robinson greeting them with a "Good morning" like she used to, she ended up asking Wave to wake Sally and Mina up while giving them two yellow sheets. Wave was glad to have the offer to wake the mean girls up. Removing her red orb from her necklace, she opened the top half to find the app for the alarm. Wait... There's apps in Wave's necklace?

Wave's necklace was given to her by her dad on her 10th birthday, and this is not a necklace bought from any jewelry store. It's a handmade necklace that can do various of stuff from accessing data to being an alarm clock to even accessing any clothes she wants (which she never used since she never cared about her looks anyway). After a few seconds of searching, Wave found the alarm clock app and let the alarm ring close to Sally's and Mina's ears.

"Bitch, you woke us up!" Sally and Mina whined to Wave.

"Not even ten seconds passed, and already you drama queens are cranky from your short nap," Wave joked to the girls while laughing, along with her classmates, minus Blaze who only gave a small smile. "And mind your language drama queens."

"Why?"

"Because that's one of reasons both of you got a trip to the principal's office and three days of ISS."

Enraged that she has ISS, Sally snatched the yellow form from Wave's hands, and wanted to give a paper cut to Wave after learning this sheet is in-fact real! Sally practically growled to Wave more vicious than a wolf. "You can't do this to us!"

"Yeah!" Mina agreed with Sally. "We can't last three days without our phones and make-up! We'll practically die without them! Especially our make-up! Without it, we won't get noticed!"

"Like I give a flying feather on how you look," Wave snapped at the two. "Besides, you guys look... what's the word I'm looking for... Hmm..."

"Is 'unattractive' the word you were looking for Ms. Luana?" Ms. Robinson suggested, trying so hard to hold her laughter, "Because their use of make-up makes them look like, sorry if I'm harsh students, like they would work at an adult bar."

The whole class burst out laughing from Ms. Robinson's comment, mainly Sonic and Jet who fell out of their desks from laughter, though Sonic was rolling around and laughing like he did yesterday at lunch.

"Yeah. That's what I was looking for!" said Wave, laughing at what her teacher said. She never thought a proper teacher would ever use those words in the same sentence. Or say those words as a matter of fact. "Anyway, just get to the principal's office or do you want to stay in ISS longer?"

Sally and Mina groaned on what Wave had said to them, and stood up, angrily moving out of the classroom and slamming the door shut with the laughter dying out. Wave walked back to her desk, getting a high-five from Jet as she passed by his seat, and from Silver and Amy as well. After the purple-haired girl returned to her seat, Ms. Robinson cleared her throat and officially start this class, despite starting it three minutes late.

"Sorry about that short interruption," Ms. Robinson started, "but good morning class. Today, as you've heard a few days ago, we're starting on our reading project."

A couple of groans came from the class of 29 (27 as of now with Sally and Mina gone) and some people putting their heads down as they dread this project.

"You'll get a random book appropriate for this grade level, and you'll be partnered up based on what I pull out on the jar filled with slips of paper."

Random partners? That's one detail Cream forgot to mention yesterday to Silver and his friends. As long as they don't get Sally or Mina as their partners, they're good to go.

"But before I start choosing, I'd like to point out that Sally and Mina are going to work on their project alone with a book you guys want them to read," Ms. Robinson added.

Never mind! This is perfect for the whole class! Voices began to spread through the classroom, most of the voices being the books they want Sally and Mina to read. The books ranged from Of Mice and Men to Frankenstein to even To Kill a Mockingbird. Before things get out of control, Ms. Robinson quieted down the class once she written down the suggestions from her students.

"We'll take a vote on what book Sally and Mina will read separately right after I'm done assigning partners," Ms. Robinson told the class before returning to her desk. "And due to that, there will be one group of three working on the same book while the majority of the class will work in twos. Is that alright to everyone?"

With the class nodding their head in agreement, Ms. Robinson untwisted the cover of the jar and started to put her hand on the jar to start pulling out three slips of paper. While she's getting the slips of paper, everybody waited silently while thinking about the project.

Espio didn't mind who he's going to work with as long as they cooperate with him; same thing with Wave. Jet wanted Wave to be his partner since he knows Wave isn't good with understanding old literature (early-mid 20th century to be exact) and would like to help her. Not to... some word Jet refused to say! Sonic is just worried on what book he'll have to read, fearing it'll be something like Anthem or Catch-22: books that don't interest him at all. Amy **really** wanted Sonic to be her partner so she can spend some time with him after school at her house, or Sonic's house (which is better)! Silver either wanted Espio to be his partner, since they lived together, or Blaze so he can get to know her better. Blaze: dreading this project. She really doesn't want to be paired up with anyone, but she has no choice as it's required. Maybe she'll have Amy as her partner, or Silver since she might give him a chance later on.

Eventually, Ms. Robinson pulled out three sheets and began to read them one by one; starting with the one she's currently holding.

"First, I'll do the ones in threes. Takeshi-san," Ms. Robinson announced. Espio requested Ms. Robinson to use '-san' in his name instead of 'Mr' as '-san' means the same thing as Mr in Japanese.

There goes Espio for Silver's choice of partners.

Ms. Robinson continued with the second slip. "Mr. Jet," And finally picked up the third paper and said, "and Miss Luana. You three will read The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I only have two copies of the book, so one of you should get it at the library. If you have the book, that's great."

Only Espio and Jet got out of their seats to get their copy of The Kite Runner since Wave actually owns a copy of the book. Heck, she has the book with her and read it about three times as a matter of fact!

"Next up is Mr. James and Mr. Richard," Ms. Robinson continued on after pulling out two slips of paper. "You'll read Lord of the Flies by William Golding."

She watched the two boys grabbing the copy of their book while getting another pair of slips with names. "Continuing on..."

Eight slips of paper later, Ms. Robinson is still assigning partners to her students, and found two slips of paper and decided to read them both at the same time. Her eyes grew wide, and she was about to laugh when she read what's in the paper. Luckily, nobody notice her actions and she started to read the papers. She kind of feels bad for this pair since one partner is going to dread it.

"Miss Amy and Mr. Ryan."

Sonic's eyes widen in horror! He's going to work with Amy? Great. He slammed his head on his desk while muttering words no one can hear. Working with Amy is going to be a nightmare for Sonic! But to Amy, it's like a dream come true! She practically squealed with joy, causing those near her to cover their ears to avoid getting them bleeding, not literally. Finally, Amy can be with Sonic while working on their English project like she'd hope for in the past three days!

_Poor Sonic, _Silver thought. _He has to work with Amy, but maybe he'll stop running away from her during this project._

"Um... You guys don't have to read any AP novels, luckily," Ms. Robinson told Amy and Sonic, still disappointed that Amy is his partner. Most of the books she assigned to the class were AP books, but a few of the chosen books aren't AP books yet appropriate for this grade level. She continued, "You get to read Just Listen by Sarah Dessen, though I only have one copy of the book. Is that okay?"

"No worries, Vanilla," Amy told her teacher, using her real name. "I have my own copy!"

"That's great to hear. Uh... Mr. Ryan?" Ms. Robinson called to Sonic. "Aren't you going to get your-"

"I'll get it," Sonic answered before Ms. Robinson finished her sentence.

She knows Amy has a massive crush on Sonic and wants him to be her boyfriend, but at the same time knows Sonic doesn't want to be Amy's boyfriend. He likes it if he and Amy remain as good friends and nothing more. Sonic isn't ready for a relationship just yet.

With Sonic back at his desk, Ms. Robinson continued with pulling the slips and called the name on the paper. "Mr. Venice."

Well, with Espio having his partners and Sonic and Amy being unfortunately paired up, Silver really wanted Blaze as his partner, even if the chances are slim, while Blaze is thinking about being paired up with Silver and how it will work. If it's another partner for her, she'll just do it on her own like always.

"And Miss Barbara," Ms. Robinson announced.

Blaze's eyes shot up in surprise, hearing her partner is Silver of all people! She didn't move a single inch after hearing the announcement, worrying Silver. He poke her shoulder to see if Blaze would move, but no movement at all. He tried again until Amy slapped his hand, causing him to pull his hand away.

"Amy!" Silver slightly yelled to his friend. "What was that for?"

"Uh... It's annoying," Amy answered to Silver. "And Blaze is in shock because you're her partner."

"Huh? What are you saying, Amy?"

She knew Silver would ask her that question. "Vanilla calls the students by their 'real' first names, and Blaze's real name is Barbara. Barbara Jewel to be exact."

Wait a minute. Silver remembered what the Geometry teacher requested him in the morning.

_"...Can you at least try to befriend her?"_

_ "My daughter's name is Barbara Jewel."_

So Blaze is Mr. Jewel's daughter he was talking about? No way! But Mr. Jewel's request is almost the same as Silver's plan, so he wasn't freaked out entirely. Just only a little.

"Silver? You okay?" asked Amy.

"Yeah," Silver replied. "Other than my mind is hurting, I'm alright."

"Well that's a relief."

"Mr. Venice and Miss Barbara." Silver forgot about Ms. Robinson for a moment, and turned his attention back to his English teacher, looking at him in a confused manner. Once the two payed attention to Ms. Robinson, she told them about their assigned book. "The book you'll be reading is a very controversial one, and you'll need to be mature when handling this book."

"What's the book, Vanilla?" Silver wondered, thinking the book is one of those banned books from the libraries.

"Battle Royale by Koushun Takami." she told them, though she messed up on pronouncing the author's name, "but I don't have any copies of the book, so you have to get them on your own free time."

How convenient. Blaze was reading this book just about yesterday while Silver read the book at least twice since Espio owns a copy of the book. Maybe if Silver is lucky, he'll ask Espio if he brought the book with him.

"Venice," Espio called, throwing a book to Silver. The silver-haired teen caught the book, and what do you know, he caught the Battle Royale book. Espio probably left the book on his backpack without him knowing.

"Thanks Espio," Silver told his friend. "Don't worry, Vanilla. I have a copy."

"Me too," Blaze added, reading the book.

Knowing the two have their books already, Ms. Robinson continued picking out partners for the students until all the slips were gone.

Five minutes and ten slips later, everyone has gotten their assigned partners and books for the project and now Ms. Robinson is on the whiteboard, taking suggestions on the books what Sally and Mina should read. She already wrote down Of Mice and Men, Frankenstein, and To Kill a Mockingbird earlier on the day, but she recently added titles like Pride and Prejudice and A Separate Peace to the list. Silver, however, didn't pay attention to what Ms. Robinson is doing right now, and is staring at Blaze who's currently reading the book.

This project might actually get them to be closer to each other! This is perfect for Silver! But to Blaze: she's mixed. She hates it because she has to work with a partner, but somehow feels it's not a bad thing since she's paired up with Silver. She knows Silver is an orphan and living at an orphanage with one of his classmates and is one of the nicest students who has tons of friends.

The only thing they thought in their mind was this: _Will this turn out alright?_

Just because they're partners for an English project doesn't mean they can be friends in the end. In Blaze's mind that is. But what if that's not the case?

Blaze decided to ignore that thought for a while and saw the whiteboard on what Sally and Mina should read were all over the place. She even laughed silently at the books the students thought about. Most of them being books that would make anyone fall asleep just by reading one page. Any of these books would work for these girls. How does Blaze know which book is selected? Simple. A poll. And when Ms. Robinson called her name, Blaze couldn't help herself and tell her:

"Frankenstein."

"I agree with her," Silver popped in, somehow laughing. "It's a **good** book and I'm sure they'll enjoy it."

And by 'good', Silver means torture with confusing words, quotations, and a protagonist who's too dumb to live.

Knowing what Silver ment by Frankenstein being a 'good' book, Blaze can't help but to laugh out loud with Silver. Soon enough, the whole class started to laugh at Silver's comment and Sonic, once again, fell out of his desk and started to roll on the floor laughing. Even the teacher started to laugh with the class, and judging by how hard the class laughed, she decided on Frankenstein being the book Sally and Mina should read separately.

It's only 1st period, and already their days have been brightened. Especially Silver's and Blaze's day.

* * *

**Author's Note: Wow. This is the longest chapter I've written so far (and my favorite one). Here we have the first appearances of Vanilla Robinson, Luana (Wave), Jet, Sally, Mina, and Blaze's father Mr. Jewel!**

**For the names, I'm going with Espio's since the book Silver and Blaze are going to read originated in Japan. Takeshi means "fierce, violent" hence"warrior", kind of going to the attitude he had in the games, and that some ninjas are warriors; not to mention dealing with espionage (where Espio's name came from). Espio despises evil MORE than Sonic (surprise, huh?)! His last name Kaneko means "golden", referencing Espio's eye color.**

**Oh, and remember Sally and Mina from Chapter 1? I put them here as the mean girls of the story (because I can't think of any others). Hey, no high school story is complete without your mean girls. And for those who read the Archie comics, I'm SORRY if I happen to make those girls act like total witches (minus the w plus the b)! The comic is good, but it's non-canon to the Sonic series, and I'm not a fan of them, nor the Sonally pairing. That doesn't mean I hate it. Again, sorry if your favorite girl is like this.**

**The books that I mentioned, I either read them or heard of them. And yes, Frankenstein was just torture for me to read! **

**The song you heard was "Say you Like Me" by We the Kings (stuck on my mind, again!)**

******But before I go, here's some Trivia for this story: I never intended Silver and Blaze to read Battle Royale until I thought about a particular scene from the movie that made me cry (it involved sad music and seeing a friend die right in front of their eyes).**

**Now if you like the story so far, please review! And don't rush me! (I had a few of those in my reviews).**


	6. The Other Side of Blaze

~5th Period: Gym (12:35 P.M)~

The students were breathing hard, running around the track field to be timed for their first mile run of the year. And most of them dread it. Why? There's a time limit. That's right. A freakin' time limit to this mile run! Basically, the students need to complete four laps, which equals to a full mile, in less than ten minutes. If the student doesn't meet this requirement, then he or she will have to do it over and over everyday until they meet the time limit. It may seem harsh, but that will prompt the student to work over their limit to get out of that hellish punishment.

Already on the last lap, Blaze is turning her steady jog into a full-out sprint to get this timed run over with. Running a mile on the field in less than ten minutes is a joke to Blaze; not even a challenge worth her time.

Oddly enough, the power of the flames granted her to run in great speeds no normal person can see, unless they have stellar vision. That's one of the positives of having this 'curse' sealed inside her; the other having the flexibility of a cat. She passed by two boys who were having a friendly race with each other, only to somehow forget about it once Blaze zoomed by, wondering if someone other than Sonic can go that fast.

She ceased her sprint when the coach announced her time with an amount of surprise and joy, seeing that this girl can get this time. "Five minutes and thirteen seconds, Barbara. Excellent performance out there."

Blaze smiled as she heard the coach complementing her efforts. The coaches at her old school would never complement on her performance which is fine to Blaze, but this coach gave a good remark about her impressive time that Blaze couldn't help but smile.

After the intense sprint, Blaze used her remaining free time to walk around the track before the coach announces to enter the locker rooms. And judging by the looks of it now, it's going to take a while for everyone to complete the run; mainly the girls who ended up walking and talking like fashion or what's good on television. She might as well make the best out of her time. However...

"Blaze!"

She turned around to see who called her, and revealed to be Silver, running to catch up with her along with Amy. The two were sweating and panting, exhausted of using their energy on that torturous mile run, but both Silver and Amy still managed to join Blaze's stroll after running to her for about ten to fifteen seconds.

"My god, Blaze, you sure surprised the coach out there," Amy started the conversation. "I mean, it's the first time a girl finished the mile run before the boys did."

"And that speed of yours almost matches Sonic's," Silver added, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "It's quite amazing."

First the coach and now Silver and Amy are complementing Blaze on her run. Though this time, the two are talking about her speed. Other than her parents, it's the first time someone complemented Blaze on anything. That's enough for her to say:

"Thanks. I run a lot."

"Like Sonic!" said Amy, thinking about her crush. "And speaking of Sonic, I can't wait when school ends!"

"Why is that?"

Amy was about to answer, but Silver barged into the conversation by telling Blaze, "So she can flirt with him in his house."

"No!" Amy shouted. "We're going to start working on our book report together! That's the reason! Honest!"

"Oh, sure it is," Silver teased Amy, who responded back by sticking her tongue at her friend. "You better not be lying, Amy."

"I'm not lying! Am I Blaze?"

She couldn't tell who's right. Amy does seemed committed to the book report as she read the first two chapters of her book and wrote down important quotes on her paper before class ended. Blaze didn't know what Silver meant with Amy flirting with Sonic, but she can tell Amy is crazy over Sonic despite knowing her for less than two days. How? Amy squealed in joy in English when she was partnered with Sonic, her green eyes sparkled while looking at him, and answered all dreamily when Sonic asked if they work on the project in his house. It's a crush alright. But... Why?

Blaze thought about what to say, and ended up answering, "No you're not, Amy."

"Told ya!" Amy told Silver in front of his face.

"Okay! I believe you, Amy," said Silver.

"Good."

"Um..." Blaze started, causing Silver's and Amy's faces to turn to her. "Can you tell me why are you walking with me in the first place?"

"Right!" Silver exclaimed, face-palming himself while laughing. "We wanted to know if you would like to join us for lunch next period."

Huh? Nobody has never asked her that question. **Never**. But Silver is the first one to ask her that question, and she didn't know what to say to him. Should she accept the offer or not?

Instead of answering to Silver's offer, Blaze asked him, "Why are you asking me to join you for lunch?"

Silver knew Blaze is going to ask him that question. There are a few reasonable ones he can explain to her, but he didn't know if she can understand his reasons. He remained silent for a few moments until he answered, "I thought we might discuss about what we've read so far on Battle Royale."

"That's it?" Blaze questioned Silver.

"Nope," Amy told Blaze, waving her finger side to side. "We also want you to meet all of our friends!"

"You sure?" was all Blaze can manage to say. They want to meet Blaze? If they did, they'll probably make mean remarks about her concerning yesterday's unfortunate events.

"Yeah!" Silver exclaimed. "Some of my friends wanted to know you personally, and we thought you should join us for lunch."

"Even after I soaked you with milk?"

That comment stabbed Silver in the heart by only an inch. He really didn't want to hear that again.

"Yes," he answered, laughing. "So, are you going to sit with us?"

So not only Silver is quick to forgive, but his friends as well. She never expected that to happen! And if Blaze is going to give Silver another chance, maybe she'll give Silver's friends a chance as well.

Her mind set, Blaze answered, "I'll take your offer to join you and your friends for lunch."

With that, Silver and Amy jumped and screamed with joy as Blaze accepted their offer. They thought she wouldn't take it, thinking it would be a waste of time. The cheering came to a halt when the coach blew his whistle, signaling everyone to go back inside to the locker rooms, finally ending this period full of pain and sweat.

* * *

~Lunch (1:25 P.M)~

Amy is already outside, eating her lunch under their usual spot along with Rouge, who didn't have any photo shoots to attend today. And Amy knows Rouge is fortunate to take a day off from all the camera flashes, the loud techno (and rap) music, and uncomfortable outfits she was forced to wear all day yesterday. Thank god it's over her!

Rouge can relax with her friends, wearing her more comfortable neon pink tank top covered with a mini black jacket, black skinny jeans, and white boots, while hearing Amy chatting about the incident in Vanilla's English class.

"... And when Wave tried to find a word to describe Sally and Mina about how they look with their make-up on, Vanilla suggested 'unattractive', and added they look like they would work at an adult bar!" Amy told Rouge, taking a bite from her sandwich roll.

"Really?!" Rouge managed to say before she laughed in the grass. "My god! I'd never expected Vanilla to say those words!"

"Me too! She's too sweet to have those words coming out of her mouth."

"That's the closest thing she'll say instead of saying 'stripper' or a 'hooker'," Rouge pointed out, still laughing in the grass.

It's true. Cream and Vanilla rarely say bad words to anyone, and whenever they say a bad word or something close to a bad word, everyone freaks out that someone like them would ever say these vile words almost everyone uses on a daily basis. But to people like Amy and Silver, they would often laugh at people's reactions when either Cream or Vanilla are saying a 'bad word'. Common reactions are people's mouth dropping wide, slapping themselves until they're knocked out, banging their head on the nearest object, and so much more.

Rouge's laughter eventually died out, getting her back off from the grass, and returned to a sitting position before she can eat parts of her salad. That's a good laugh she hasn't had for a while.

"Anyway, you said someone is joining us for lunch, Amy?" Rouge questioned her pink-haired friend.

"Yep," Amy answered to Rouge's question. "The girl who soaked Silver-"

"In milk, I know," Rouge finished Amy's sentence before she can finish. "Knuckles told me yesterday after my photo shoots."

"Right. Sorry. I forgot you two were neighbors," Amy laughed to herself.

Neighbors? Try siblings in Rouge's and Knuckles' case. The two have been living in the same neighborhood ever since Rouge and Knuckles was six and five respectively. And since Rouge's parents often went to business trips due to them owning a modeling agency, Knuckles' family often let Rouge stay over at his house until her parents come back (which is usually two weeks or a month). Her parents try to do their best to spend some quality time with her, but their time is short (three days to a week), so Rouge somewhat feels neglected from her parents. She thinks Knuckles and Tikal as her younger siblings she never had and Rae, Knuckles' father, as an uncle. Knuckles' mom? They never talk about her since it's a sensitive topic to Rae. **VERY**. **Sensitive**.

After Amy finished her short laugh, she started to take a small bite on her sandwich roll before starting the conversation again. "Okay. Back to what I was talking about earlier, that girl Knuckles told you is joining us for lunch and from what Silver told me this morning, she's the girl who had a rough past."

"Rough past?" Rouge didn't hear most of Silver's plan since she overslept this morning and only gained bits of the plan from Shadow; her only friend that's a Junior like her. She didn't hear Shadow mention anything about a rough past! Curious on what Amy meant, the model asked, "What do you mean by rough past?"

"This girl, Blaze, was bullied throughout her whole life, both physically and mentally because she had some sort of 'gift' given to her since birth."

"God, that must have be tough for her to handle all of this pain for years."

"I know. Silver wanted to befriend Blaze because of that, and if possible, Silver might be her first friend in her life."

"Aw..." Rouge couldn't help to say. "That's Silver for you. Always out there for everyone."

Only seconds after her last sentence, Rouge picked up a conversation from faraway thanks to her super hearing coming from her ears. The model smiled as she knew who the voice is.

"... My friends will like you. There's nothing to worry about..." the voice advised someone they were talking to. That voice:

Silver. It wasn't too difficult to notice with his friendly tone in the conversation he's in, and he's usually one of the first ones to be here. The others being Rouge, Amy, and Sonic.

Now at a distance where she can spot Silver and what she assumed to be the girl joining them for lunch, Rouge was about to yell to Silver, only to be beaten by Amy; frantically waving her arms around the place.

"Silver! Blaze! Over here!" Amy shouted to Silver.

"Okay!" Silver yelled back to Amy. "We're almost there!"

Soon enough, Silver joined the two girls along with Blaze, who only looked down at her food once she sat down. Granted, it was Blaze's first time sitting with a group of people, so all of this felt foreign to her. Not a minute, or thirty seconds for that manner, has ticked by and Blaze can feel her heartbeat rapidly beating faster than it has ever been before. It has beaten fast when she sprinted or unleashing her flames, but it's beating because she's sitting with a bunch of people who don't/barely know her?! That's never happen to her before!

The heartbeats continued, though slowing down only a little, when Silver put his hand on her shoulder before speaking.

"Rouge, this is Barbara Jewel, or 'Blaze' as many people call her," Silver introduced his friend to Blaze. "Blaze, this is Rouge Bayle. You've probably seen her in an advertisement for Swan Ice Cream in _Glitter _yesterday. And like I said yesterday at the library, she's recently a model."

Blaze placed her hand out, hoping for a handshake from Rouge, but instead was hugged by her. If Blaze can call it a hug because Rouge is practically sucking the oxygen from her! She was hugged by only her parents, but never to a stranger that's somewhat choking her!

Rouge, clutching Blaze to her tightly, exclaimed, "Aw! It's nice to meet you! And my god, why would people hurt you? You look absolutely gorgeous!"

What's gorgeous about a navy blue sweater over a black t-shirt and faded boot-cut jeans anyway?

"Uh..." Well Blaze didn't know what to say to the model. Should she say thanks for the third complement she heard today? "Th-thanks?"

"Your welcome!" Rouge replied back, oblivious to Blaze's suffering from the hug.

"Could... could you-" Blaze didn't get to finish her sentence as Rouge hugged her tighter, and is about to lose some oxygen just from a hug!

Thankfully, it stopped when Silver told the model, "Rouge, it looks like she can't breathe. Let her go."

Noticing this, Rouge ceased her hugging, finally letting Blaze taking a huge deep breath after that 'hug'. Most of Rouge's hugs can go a little overboard, failing to notice that they're choking until somebody reminds her. Her friends are used to Rouge's hugs, mainly Knuckles, but to strangers like Blaze, they thought she's going to kill them with just a hug!

"Oops. I'm sorry, sweetie," Rouge apologized to Blaze. "I kind of get excited when meeting new people and I can't help but to hug you!"

"It's fine," Blaze said, still taking a few deep breaths before finally eating her lunch.

"It's normal for Rouge to be like this, Blaze," Amy explained to the lavender-haired teen. "Be lucky you only received a thirty second hug from her. The worst one is the minute hug: it'll take you ten minutes just to get your breath back. It might even kill you."

"She's lying over there!" Rouge yelled, flinging parts of her salad to Amy's hair. Oh, how Amy really wanted to throw something back at her like a tomato or an orange slice. But she knew better not to. At least in school with over 3,600 (rough estimate) students in here. Amy can do this another day when they have a sleepover.

"Rouge, you know better than to fling food at your friends."

Everyone turned around to see where the voice came from, and it was Knuckles carrying his lunch, alongside with Tikal and Cream.

"I know that," Rouge said, placing her fork on her salad and sticking her tongue at Knuckles, who also replied with the same action. Just like siblings.

The three soon sat down under the tree, with Tikal and Cream staring at Blaze with friendly eyes. It's obvious that they wanted to meet Blaze ever since Silver told them about the plan this morning.

"Hello there!" Cream greeted Blaze. "My name is Clara Robinson, but you can call me 'Cream' if you'd like."

"Uh... Hi Cream," Blaze replied back nervously. "I'm Barbara Jewel, and-"

"Your the daughter of my new Geometry teacher, Mr. Jewel." Knuckles cut Blaze's sentence. "He's a great teacher if you ask me."

"Y...Yeah," Blaze agreed with Knuckles, "he's an excellent teacher."

"And if you want to know who I am, my name is Kennith Shard, but you can call me 'Knuckles'," He then placed his hand on Tikal's shoulder and continued, "And this is my little sister, Tikal."

"H... hi," Tikal replied quietly. "It's very nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet... you too," Like with Cream, it ended up in the same tone: nervous.

Oh god. Blaze has never been **extremely** nervous before! Sure, she's been a bit nervous when speaking in front of people or asking her dad for some help with understanding some parts of her math notes, but now she's nervous just by talking with others who are trying being friendly to her!

Before this moment happen: she's fine.

Now: her body is getting hotter, sweat coming from her head more than the mile run from last period, she feels her throat lacking in water, and her legs turning into wobbly jello! God, how much Blaze hates this feeling!

Silver noticed Blaze's forehead is sweating more than before and knew she doesn't feel comfortable in this situation. Of course, she wouldn't be comfortable! Transferring from sitting in an empty table to a group of friends is a hard transition for someone like Blaze, and Silver couldn't help but to place his hand on her shoulder.

"Are you feeling okay, Blaze?" Silver asked Blaze.

Taking a deep breath, Blaze answered, "To be honest, no. I'm not used to this."

"It's okay. It feels weird to sit with new people at first, but once you talk to them, you'll feel much more comfortable," Silver advised her, now having both hands on both of her shoulders. "Trust me. It happens to everyone."

"And don't worry, Miss Barbara. We're easy to get along, so you'll feel comfortable in no time!" Cream added.

"It's true," Amy agreed with Cream. "Especially Sonic and Tails! They're one of the most easy going guys in the whole school!"

"Speaking of which, where are they?" Tikal wondered.

"HELL NO, SHADOW!" a familiar voice echoed through the school.

As if one cue, everybody turned their heads to see who yelled, and they witnessed Sonic being dragged on the ground by Shadow, ignoring Sonic's demands to be released. Oh joy.

_Oh god._ Silver groaned in his thoughts, seeing Shadow trying to pry Sonic's hands off a trashcan.

In the morning when Silver explained the plan to his friends, everyone but Sonic and Tails agreed to his plan. They still thought Blaze is a mean girl and mentioned that trying to befriend her is like trying to fight an entire army with a small gun filled with only seven bullets. In other words: they thought Silver is insane for coming up with a plan like that. Silver thought their opinions of Blaze would vanish, but nope, it's still there.

And since inviting Blaze for lunch was part of the plan, Sonic and Tails were desperate to not sit with her. However, both of them failed. Miserably! How?

With Tails: All it took for Tails to agree was Shadow threatening him that he'll kill Sonic while cursing out loud before 2nd period began.

Sonic: Uh... Being dragged by Shadow right now!

After prying Sonic loose from the now-fallen trashcan, Shadow, Tails, and a still-panicked Sonic sat down with Silver and his friends. While Shadow started to take a small bite from his chicken sliders, both Sonic and Tails didn't even looked at their lunch and instead stared at Blaze, giving her a glare that didn't even make her flinch. The girl who soaked Silver in milk yesterday is now sitting with them in lunch, which feels just so wrong to Sonic! What was Silver thinking?!

Amy cleared the silence by clearing her throat before speaking to Sonic. "So, aren't you going to say something to her, Sonic?"

"Like what?" Sonic asked, his tone coming out harsher than he expected.

"Maybe saying hello to her or talking about the book report would be a good start," Amy suggested, pulling out her book.

Silver face-palmed himself when he heard Amy mention 'book report'. He almost forgot about discussing Battle Royale with Blaze for a moment! Now Silver unzipped his aqua blue backpack, and frantically dig through the inside until he finally felt something large that would take most of the space from his hands. He pulled out his copy (or Espio's since it's technically his) of Battle Royale and flipped through the page with a red bookmark. Blaze also pulled out her copy and opened up to the chapter she's currently on.

"Sorry about forgetting our project for a moment," Silver apologized to Blaze while taking a bite of his apple. "Now, where should start off with?"

"About the character's reactions to 'The Program'," Blaze suggested.

"Okay. Well, the majority of the class thought it was impossible to kill their classmates they knew for years, but when the game started..."

"Their opinion changed from 'I can't kill my best friend' to 'Everyone's an enemy! They all must die!'." Blaze finished Silver's statement.

"Yeah. Though some students like Kazuo and Mitsuko are willing to play the game, but both of them have different reasons to play. Kazuo decided to play because of a coin toss and Mitsuko plays to survive and win."

"And Mitsuko's reason portrays to real life: survival of the fittest."

Sonic couldn't help but to drop his chicken patty off his mouth and into the plastic tray after hearing Silver's and Blaze's conversation about the book! He thought the two would fight because of the incident, but instead, the two are getting along just fine, as if they completely forgotten yesterday's events! That completely shocked Sonic!

But Sonic wasn't alone. Tails somehow let his can of iced tea spill to the soil when he heard Silver's and Blaze's discussion about Battle Royale. He couldn't believe that Silver and Blaze are getting along despite the milk incident.

Eventually, Sonic told Tails, in a voice that no one can't hear, about what they were witnessing. "My god, can you believe that?!"

"That this girl might not be that mean?" Tails guessed.

Oh. Crap.

Sonic did not just hear those words from Tails. First, Tails is agreeing with him, and now he's starting to change his opinion about Blaze? WHAT?!

"Are you possessed or something, Tails?!" Sonic screamed to Tails, shaking him frantically til his eyes start spinning. "What the hell makes you say that?!"

"Well, the way they're discussing the book in such a mature manner is impressive," Tails told Sonic. "Most people would say 'I want to see some action, not read about people's dumb thoughts' when discussing Battle Royale. I kind of feel sorry for calling her a heartless loner yesterday."

"You're saying you want to be friends with Blaze?!"

"I guess so."

Great. Now Sonic feels like he's the only one out of his friends who doesn't want to be friends with Blaze. He still thinks Blaze is a heartless loner not because of what happened with Silver, but what he witnessed on his way to his History class yesterday. Sonic spotted Blaze slamming her fist in the lockers, creating a loud noise echoing through the building, scaring a group of boys in wanna-be gangster clothing. And if that wasn't enough, she crushed on a girl freshman's feet who was gossiping about something he didn't want to know. In heels! **Heels**!

Just witnessing Blaze's actions in a day is enough for Sonic to believe that she's a mean girl who doesn't care for anyone but herself. And he hates people who hurt others without any reason. Sonic can understand Knuckles attacking random boys just so he can protect Tikal's mind from being poisoned. But Blaze, no. Just no. She scared a group of boys and injured a girl for no apparent reason! That's just sick to Sonic.

Thinking about yesterday made Sonic lose his appetite, so instead of walking to the trashcan and throwing his lunch in there, he simply tossed it carelessly like it was a dusty book no one wants to read. The only thing Sonic ate after thinking about yesterday is a nectarine, hanging from his mouth.

Shadow, noticing what Sonic did, asked Sonic, "You're alright, Sonic?"

"Isn't it obvious, Shadow?" Sonic sarcastically replied to the black-haired teen, then pointed to Blaze who's currently talking to Tails and Knuckles about her book.

"What about Blaze?"

"It's just that... Err... I... I hate her so much!"

_Never expected those words to come out of his mouth._ Shadow commented in his mind.

"Why?"

"Because I witnessed her doing bad things to other students like stepping on a girl's foot in heels and smashed a locker to scare some boys for no reason! That's why!"

"But do you ever think why Blaze did that stuff to those people? Did you ever thought of that?"

Sonic stopped for a moment to think, but it was cut short when he saw a familiar figure walking towards the group. And boy, he did not wanted to see that person after what he witnessed at lunch. Who's that person?

Fiona Foss. Or as Amy and Rouge dubs her: Queen Bitch.

Very deep red short hair with a yellow bow, blue eyes with purple eye shadow, red lipstick on her lips, tan skin, wearing an orange tank top that shows much of her chest, a black mini skirt with a chain belt and black high heels, it's Queen Bitch alright.

Fiona is a junior here and, like Rouge, she is a model, though she's waaaay different than Rouge in terms of looks and personality. For looks, Rouge does wear some revealing outfits at times, but only exposing parts of her chest and rarely wears skirts to school. Fiona just flaunts her body by wearing revealing tops that shows most of her cleavage and short skirts to flaunt her toothpick legs. With make-up, Fiona takes the cake by putting eyeliner, eye shadow, mascara, lipstick, nail polish, there can even be an article about how much make-up Fiona puts on daily! And finally: personality. While Rouge can be somewhat dramatic and a bit spoiled, she is willing to listen to others and do her best to comfort them when times are rough for them. Fiona: dear god. She doesn't care for others, willing to hit **anyone**, only cares for herself, and insults **everybody**! **EVERYBODY**!

And despite those flaws, Fiona is great friends with Sally and Mina (if that's even possible for Fiona to have any friends), and has a boyfriend named Sadam Hartell, or Scourge as he's like a nasty whip wherever he goes.

So why the hell is Fiona here in the first place? To brag that she's a better model than Rouge? Make fun of poor Cream or Tikal? Or worse? Do both of them so viciously, it's enough for anybody to murder her? Possibly.

"Hello there," Fiona greeted all of Silver's friends. "How are you losers doing today?"

"Just fine until you showed up!" Amy exclaimed, ready to take her diamond heart off her headband. "Now what are you doing here anyway, Fiona?!"

"Oh, nothing. It's that I'm hear to tell you guys about this years Homecoming Idol."

Stopping her conversation when she spotted Fiona, Blaze shut her book and returned it in her backpack before listening to the conversation. Okay, so far, Blaze isn't getting what Fiona is saying about 'Homecoming Idol'. Is it the school's version of a homecoming queen or something?

Confused, she tapped on Silver's shoulder to get his attention before asking him, "What is that girl talking about?"

Right. Blaze doesn't know about Homecoming Idol since she came from a different school, so being here longer, Silver was happy to explain.

"Homecoming Idol is that a certain student gets to sing a song of the Homecoming King and Queen's choice when they're announced, and later sings a song 90 minutes before Homecoming is over," Silver informed Blaze.

"Well that's nice."

"Yeah. Only problem is that-"

"No freshman has ever been Homecoming Idol before!" Knuckles cut-in before Silver can answer.

"What Knuckles said. And most of the Idols happen to be vain and mean. Like Fiona," Silver pointed out to Fiona who's luckily not looking at Blaze, Silver, or Knuckles.

Now Blaze knew what Silver meant. This girl is mean up to eleven to Blaze. Sure, Blaze has met other girls that were nasty as witches, but seeing Fiona, Blaze wondered if it's possible for a girl to be **viciously mean**.

"Oh, you are a nominee for Homecoming Idol?" Rouge sarcastically asked Fiona.

"Why, yes. It's because I'm so damn sexy and talented," Fiona said, swishing her red hair.

"B...but..." Tikal managed to speak, "But your singing voice is horrible."

"Oh crap!" Sonic and Shadow exclaimed in horror, knowing things are going to go downhill.

Hearing those words, Fiona slapped Tikal hard in the face, it not only turned her cheek crimson red, but she feel down to the grass. Tikal wasn't lying. Fiona had a voice pleasant enough to please house flies. In other words: horrible!

"Tikal!" Tails and Cream gasped as they run toward their injured friend.

"That wasn't very nice of you to do that to our friend," Cream scolded the unfazed red-head. "You should be ashamed of yourself!"

"And why should I you dumb brat?" Fiona hissed before shoving Cream down to the ground.

"Cream!" Tails shrieked in terror, seeing his friend sobbing on the dirt.

It is possible to be that mean. Even though Blaze has met Cream and Tikal for a few minutes, Blaze really, **REALLY**, wanted to teach Fiona a lesson on hurting those two innocent girls! All they did was give her advice, and this girl responds by harming them?! That's unacceptable! However, she's not alone.

Knuckles is ready to blow his fuse more than yesterday. If boys flirting with Tikal only gives out either verbal or physical blows to the victims, hurting his sister physically or mentally means the worst beating ever, no matter what gender they are.

"Oh, wait til I get that bitch for harming Tikal!" Knuckles growled, cracking his fists. "She'll regret for her harsh actions once she's in the hospital!"

But before Knuckles can take one step, Silver clenched his hand tightly, preventing him from moving at all.

"Knuckles, beating Fiona up is not worth it!" Silver told Knuckles. "But we need to teach Fiona a lesson about harming poor Cream and Tikal."

"Then let me handle it. It's much better than using violence," said Blaze, already walking towards Fiona. Silver and Knuckles can only nod their heads as they knew what Blaze meant.

The lavender-haired teen walked towards Fiona who's now smiling viciously to Amy, now having her hammer, and Rouge at what she's done while kicking Rouge's and Amy's lunch away to a group of boys playing soccer.

"Hey!" Rouge and Amy screamed to Fiona.

"That was our lunch!" growled Rouge, clenching her fists.

"So?" Fiona asked in a tone that reads 'I don't care'.

"So we suggest that before you leave, apologize to Cream and Tikal!" Amy yelled to Fiona, ready to swing her hammer to the Queen Bitch.

"Why? They insulted me so I had to teach them a lesson."

But before Amy can swing her hammer in full rage, Blaze showed up in front of Fiona's face, ready to scold the Queen Bitch. Amy backed away from Fiona and Blaze to let Blaze handle Fiona without violence being involve. Physical violence to be exact.

"Is that how you teach these girls a lesson? By harming them like they're nothing but ragged dolls?!" Blaze yelled to Fiona.

"Yeah," Fiona answered in a tone that Blaze hates. "And besides, those girls are just jealous that I'm talented and they're not."

"Talented? Does hurting people's feelings count as a talent? Because you might be the queen of hurting others instead!"

"Wha-?!"

Everybody couldn't believe what they're seeing right now. Fiona getting scolded by Blaze is by far the best thing that can ever happen to them. So much that they were speechless and had their mouths dropping down as far as they can. Only Sonic managed to say, "Damn, Fiona just got owned." by what he's seeing.

"You just did not-!" Fiona tried to say, speechless on what Blaze has said to her.

"I just did," Blaze told Fiona. "And let me add one more thing before I let you go."

"And what's that?"

"You'll never be Homecoming Idol if you keep dressing and acting like Britney Spears."

Sonic and Knuckles gasped at what Blaze had said to Fiona before walking to Cream and Tikal. They can't believe it's happening to Fiona.

"Oh, you'll regret this!" Fiona warned Blaze before walking away, humiliated on what happened to her.

Blaze couldn't care less about Fiona's warning. She might not even bother her for a **very** long time. Now with Cream and Tikal, Blaze helped the two back up to at least their knees stroking their hair with her hands.

"It's okay. Everything is over," Blaze reassured the freshman girls.

"Y... you sure?" Cream sniffled.

"Yep. And based on her reactions, that girl might not even come here to insult you guys for a while."

"Well that's good to hear," Tikal managed to say, rubbing her red cheek. "But I feel bad for insulting Fiona's singing."

"Nah. Don't be," Knuckles told his sister, pulling her up and back to her feet. "I heard her sing a Ke$ha song once, and Fiona made my ears bleed!"

"Mine too!" Tails added, shivering at that thought again.

Blaze laughed at the thought of Fiona causing everyone's ears, maybe body parts, to bleed because of her atrocious singing. Sick, but hilarious. After that short thought ended, Blaze finally pulled Cream up to her feet while wiping her salty tears from her innocent brown eyes.

"Thank you Miss Barbara for standing up to Fiona," Cream said, finally done with her tears.

"It's no problem," Blaze replied back. "I hate these kinds of girls who treat people like they're nothing to them. This is the first time I've ever spoke back to a girl like that."

"Really? And how did it feel?"

"To be honest, I feel a whole lot better when I stood up to her."

Silver can only manage to smile to Blaze when she not only said those words but how she's comforting Cream after she gotten hurt. So Blaze is really a nice girl like he witnessed yesterday at the library. He can't even imagine this is the girl who soaked milk on him yesterday! It's nice for Silver and the others to see the nice side to Blaze. It really is.

Sonic, despite having his back turned away from Blaze, couldn't help but to turn his head to witness Cream being comforted by Blaze, with Blaze undoing Cream's pigtails and brushing her hair with Amy's hairbrush and braiding them with golden ribbons. Maybe Sonic thought wrong about Blaze. Maybe she's nice like Silver had said.

But he wasn't sure if it's true. Shadow then came to Sonic, with his tray empty, and stopped before throwing his lunch in the trashcan.

"So, now what do you think of Blaze, Sonic?" Shadow asked his rival.

He could have answered, "Not too bad." but instead, Sonic said nothing. His opinion on Blaze being a heartless loner was fighting with a second opinion on Blaze being a nice girl. He can't decided which one is right.

"Sonic? Sonic? Sonic!" Shadow called to Sonic, dozing off.

"Huh? What?" Sonic responded to Shadow's call.

"Your answer?"

Only three words came out of Sonic's mouth to answer Shadow's question. Those three words?

"I don't know."

* * *

**Author's Note: Thank god this chapter is done! It's hard to write this one, but enjoyable at the same time. And we have yet another mean witch on our hands: Fiona (and how much I hate her). Plus, Scourge is mentioned, so when are we going to see him in this story?**

**Anyway, time for the names. I'm just going with the last name of Rouge since she finally appeared (not counting the picture). The name Bayle is Greek for 'beautiful', or in Latin 'blessed'; Rouge being blessed for having a beautiful body (also reflecting her appearances in the games).**

**Now for the next two chapters, I'm going to shift away from Silver and Blaze for a while. The next chapter will be about Sonic (with some Sonamy moments if I can) and Chapter 8 will have a few Knuxouge moments (yea!), plus a secret from one of the characters (and a pairing I didn't put on the summary). Just a heads up for all of you.**

**And recently, I've been asked questions about the story, so if you want to ask a question about it, you can PM me if you like. Just remember to have proper grammar when writing these questions. **

**Oh, and I don't accept OC's if you're wondering. The problem with OC's is that I'll have a hard time putting them in the story, not to mention if there's too many, I'll lose track of them. So, sorry if your OC can't be in this story.**

**Now that this is out of the way, if you like the story so far, please leave a review! And again. Proper. Grammar. Please!**


	7. Sonic's Opinions

~Sonic's House: Bedroom (4:15 P.M)~

Sonic is currently on chapter three on Just Listen, and while he's reading the words, he's thinking about what happened today. The discussion about the plan (only parts to him), seeing Blaze in his English class, being dragged by Shadow to lunch, sitting with Blaze and not even saying a word to her, Fiona being the bitch she is by harming Cream and Tikal, Blaze telling the Queen Bitch to back off, and finally Blaze comforting the two freshman and braiding Cream's hair. Now it's invading his mind! Oh wait... It already did that after lunch! Great.

With those events still on his mind, Sonic couldn't focus on the book at all and ended up throwing it straight to the door in full rage! He plummeted down to his bed before stuffing his face into the pillow, screaming all his locked frustration on that cushion. He wasn't mad about his day, but he's mad because the two opinions he now thought are fighting inside his mind non-stop until there's a winner. And this mental brawl is going to take a while based on Sonic's monstrous screams that luckily no one can hear.

That's not the only thing Sonic remembered. Sonic can also recall the conversation he had with Shadow during Advance Theater. And that was more than a half-hour ago since that conversation. He can even remember the entire scene just by closing his eyes once his screams died out.

* * *

_~ [Earlier] 8th Period: Advance Theater (3:30 P.M.)~_

_ While all the students were reciting their lines for their first major grade of performing a random scene from a certain play, Sonic has his head buried in his script, barely reading the words he's suppose to remember. Normally, Sonic would have no problems memorizing lines, but today he can't even remember his first lines! This is ridiculous! He's not only going to screw up his grade but also Shadow's. This test involves acting with a partner, and Sonic had to be paired with Shadow for this test. Well, it's better than being paired with Scourge or Fiona._

_ Shadow, sitting next to Sonic, noticed his partner slamming his head hard on the table, pushing the three paged script to the floor. Sighing in annoyance, Shadow swiped the script off the floor and smacked Sonic in the head, pulling his head up quickly to find out Shadow is smacking him senselessly._

_ "Shadow! What the hell was that for?!" Sonic screamed in a voice that no one but Shadow and himself can hear. _

_ "You're suppose to be memorizing your lines, not taking a nap," Shadow scolded his partner, still smacking him with the script._

_ "Sorry, Shadz-" Sonic started, using a nickname Shadow hates so much. _

_ "Don't call me Shadz!" Shadow growled, smacking Sonic with the script again, this time on his cheeks._

_ "Ow! Was smacking me necessary?"_

_ "Yes. Yes it was," Shadow answered, giving the script back to Sonic._

_ Sonic grabbed his script and decided to stuff it into his backpack before turning to Shadow once again, who's now highlighting his lines and making notes on the script._

_ "Anyway, I was going to say that I'm still thinking about-"_

_ "What happened in lunch today?" Shadow answered for him, eyes not leaving the script._

_ "Yes. And that I have two opinions on Blaze," Sonic added._

_ Two opinions? Shadow didn't hear that from Sonic earlier. This made Shadow stop making notes on his script and wanted to know what's Sonic's second opinion was about Blaze. He's already heard the first opinion, but not the second._

_ "What second opinion?" Shadow wondered._

_ "Remember when I answered 'I don't know' about what I think of Blaze?" Sonic reminded his black-haired partner._

_ "Yeah. What about it?"_

_ "It's that I have a second opinion on her. That she might be nice."_

_ "Silver said the same thing this morning."_

_ "He did?"_

_ Shadow face-palmed himself as he heard Sonic asking this question. He swears that Sonic wasn't listening to Silver this morning. Well, Sonic only listened to the 'befriending part' and inviting Blaze to lunch, but everything else: he just popped his iPod on and ended up listening to music on max volume._

_ "Yes," Shadow told Sonic in annoyance. "You missed that part."_

_ "What else did I miss?" asked Sonic._

_ "Blaze was not only bullied by others in her whole life, but she didn't have any friends and she has a 'gift' from god like us."_

_ "How come I didn't know about that?!" Sonic asked Shadow, still screaming in a voice that no one can hear but the two._

_ "You didn't listen and decided to fool around with your iPod."_

_ "Oh... right," Sonic somewhat laughed to himself. "But enough about me not listening this morning. This second opinion on Blaze being nice is now fighting with my first thoughts of her being a heartless loner. And... I don't know which one is right."_

_ "Well, did you decide to give her a second chance?" Shadow suggested._

_ "Say what?"_

_ "You always give everyone second chances. So why not do the same to Blaze?"_

_ The conversation ended quickly when the drama teacher announced the students to take out a sheet of paper and something to write with to take down the notes about today's lesson.__ And while taking the notes, Sonic wonders if he should take that advice after Shadow mentions a lot of things Sonic missed this morning. His mind says 'no' but his heart says 'yes'._

_ What's it going to be?_

* * *

~Sonic's House: Bedroom (4:30 P.M.)~

"Ryan? RYAN GRIFFITH!"

Sonic, finished remembering that moment in class with Shadow, heard his mother's yelling all the way from downstairs to his room, where he immediately lifted his face off the pillow and hurried downstairs to see his mother, Aleena, in the living room; sitting in a white couch along with Amy, Tails, and Cream, her hair still in braids. Not wanting to feel awkward, Sonic soon took a seat on the couch next to his mom, currently brushing her indigo hair with her fingers.

"Uh... Sorry if I didn't hear you mom," Sonic apologized to his mom. "I was taking a short nap and I didn't hear you."

"That's okay, Ryan," Aleena told her son, "but you've kept your friends waiting for fifteen minutes."

_Basically mom yelled at me for fifteen freakin minutes?!_ Sonic screamed in his head.

"Err... Sorry guys."

"It's okay, Sonic!" Amy exclaimed, leaping out of the couch before hugging Sonic tightly. "Besides, we have plenty of time to work on our book report!"

"O... kay... Amy..." Sonic managed to breathe out. God, Amy's hugs to Sonic are much worse than Rouge's! "Let... go... of... Oh my... god! Tails... Help... me...!"

Noticing his friend isn't breathing, Tails held tightly onto Amy's shoulders and tried to pry her loose from Sonic by pulling her away. After a few tugs, Tails can barely manage to move Amy three inches from Sonic; his arms starting to feel fatigue and sweaty. However, the blond-teen used his twin tails to hover himself, lifting Amy a few inches from the ground and letting go of Sonic from that 'lovely' (and by lovely, **deadly**!) hug.

"Tails! Let me go!" Amy demanded, kicking her legs in the air. "Please! I swear, I won't choke him to death if you let me go!"

"Let me think about that. No way!" Tails told Amy, holding her shoulders tightly.

"Mr. Tails," Cream called out, using his nickname. Like Espio, Cream didn't call Tails by his real name since it sounds so weird if paired with his last name, "please let go of Miss Amy. She didn't mean to hurt Mr. Ryan."

Tails didn't want to listen to Cream at first, but when it came to her brown eyes widening into the sparkling puppy eyes, dear god, nobody, not even Shadow (oddly), can resist those eyes. Most of the time, it usually fools Tails since he can NEVER say 'no' to Cream because... Well, he can't explain it very well in words. Listening to Cream's pleas, Tails slowly descended from the air and both him and Amy landed on the floor, sighing in relief that this is over.

"Thank god." Amy breathed in, now grabbing Sonic's hand. "Come on! We have a book report to start once we enter your room!"

Fearing that he'll be dragged by Amy if he resisted, Sonic decided to walk ahead with Amy to his room while holding her hands. Seeing Sonic wanting to hold Amy's hands for once instead of running away, Amy couldn't help but to squeal silently to herself. Sonic ignored the squealing from Amy and sighed when he finally enters his room, along with Tails and Cream, with the latter muttering an "Aw," by witnessing Sonic's cheeks turning a light shade of pink. Something Tails missed a few seconds ago.

Once the four entered the room, Sonic and Amy were laying on their stomachs on Sonic's bed with notebook papers, a few mechanical pencils, colored highlighters and two copies of Just Listen were already spread out on the bed. Amy wasn't kidding when she said they'll start the project when they entered the room. Tails placed his assigned reading book, Anthem, on a small coffee table while Cream put her Algebra I textbook along with a sheet of paper with some problems already written down on said table as well.

But before a full minute can pass by, Sonic pulled his backpack out of the floor and into his bed, unzipping it and shuffling through his items for a few moments before pulling out his iPod from his stuffed bag.

"Sonic, why did you pull out your iPod?" Tails questioned his friend.

"The silence is killing me already," Sonic exclaimed, banging his head on a pillow a few times before he finished his explanation. "And I want us to listen to some music while we're working."

"You sure?" asked Cream, who's used to working in quiet places. "I don't want to be distracted from my homework, Mr. Ryan."

"Relax, Cream," Sonic reassured Cream, "I'll put it at a reasonable listening level."

"And don't play any of that rap-crap, Sonic!" Amy told Sonic. "You know how much I hate them because most of them..."

"Is all about getting a girl to do 'that'," everyone but Cream said at the same time. Of course, they had to be careful with what they say since Cream is practically the second most innocent one out of everybody; the most innocent being Tikal. Saying the 's' word even only for a second is enough to make Cream a bit queasy.

"I know, I know that Amy," Sonic said, already putting his blue iPod into the speakers. "I'll play tunes from my study playlist. Is that okay with you guys?"

Everybody nodded their head in agreement, even Cream, despite not knowing what's in his study playlist. Sonic selected a song from his iPod, and after a few seconds of silence, a guitar followed by a drum filled Sonic's room along with a singer. Soon enough, everybody started working on their homework from different classes.

_I'm in a state of confusion baby_

_Lost but on my way_

_I'm spinning round and round _

_Again and again and again_

While listening to his favorite band's latest song and reading the words to Chapter 3 of Just Listen, Sonic couldn't help but to think about his opinions on Blaze once again. He's all confused on which opinion he should believe. Blaze being heartless or her being a kind girl like he's witnessed just hours ago?

_I tripped and fell in the same direction _

_Got lost along the way_

_I'm spinning round and round_

_And round and round again_

Luckily, Sonic shook those thoughts quickly and went back on focusing on the book. While reading the current page and silently humming the lyrics to the song, Sonic remembered one of the questions from the rubric he's suppose to answer. Granted, there were sixteen questions to answer in total, so before meeting here, Sonic and Amy agreed to split the questions in half and discuss their answers. Sonic had the even numbers which leaves Amy with the odd numbered questions to answer. One of Sonic's questions asked:

_Find a song of your choice and explain in two paragraphs how the book and the lyrics relate to each other._

Just right now, this song relates to the book somehow with the main character lost on what she should do with her life and how to deal with it. Yeah, this song can work with the book by a landslide.

Or about Sonic's opinions.

_Great! Just great! I'm still thinking about it again!_ Sonic screamed in his mind, scratching his head frantically.

_I feel like I'm floating in the atmosphere_

_When you're near_

_I feel like I'm running around_

_With one shoe on and the other near_

_And gotta run around for higher ground_

Noticing her partner's weird actions, Amy placed her pink bookmark on the page she's currently on and tapped on Sonic's shoulder to see if he would respond. He noticed Amy tapping on his shoulder about twice, and he turned around to face Amy, one of her hands on her head twisting to the right. Sonic knew whenever Amy does this, she's worried about her friends and wants to know what's going on with their minds. Oh joy.

"Sonic, is something wrong?" Amy asked with concern in her voice.

_Come on, Sonic. Make up a lie! Anything! Say I lost to Shadow in a race during athletics in 7__th__ period! Say how I made a C on my recent Geometry quiz!_ Sonic told his mind, still on the mental fight. _Anything that's not the truth!_

"Yeah. Something has been bothering me since lunch," Sonic answered to Amy's question, all calm on the outside. But on the inside...

_Damn it!_ Freaking out with Sonic cursing out loud.

"Is it about Fiona hurting Cream and Tikal?" questioned Tails, helping Cream with some of her Algebra I homework.

"That's only ¼ of it. The remaining ¾ are about Blaze and what I think of her right now."

Hearing this from Sonic, Tails whispered to Cream for a few moments before they took a seat by pulling one chair from Sonic's rarely used desk and a bean bag chair, with Cream sitting on the first chair and Tails on the bean bag chair, trying to get into a comfortable position without sliding off. He's so not a huge fan of bean bag chairs since it makes him even smaller than before.

After getting to a position that he feels is fine without sliding off, Tails started asking Sonic, "What do you mean, Sonic? Even after witnessing Blaze standing up to Fiona, you still think she's mean?"

"Well... I..." Sonic didn't know what to say after hearing Tails' question. Should he tell everyone about his opinions?

"Just be honest, Sonic," Amy told Sonic, placing her hand on Sonic's left shoulder. "We're not going to get mad at you."

"We promise, Mr. Ryan," Cream said, placing her hands on her lap.

"Okay," Now Sonic feels a bit more relaxed thanks to Amy and Cream. He took a few short breaths and cleared his throat before starting to speak. "Well, from what I witnessed the past two days, the reason I thought Blaze was a heartless loner is that she scared a group of boys and harmed a girl's foot in heels for no reason."

But before Cream can open her mouth to tell Sonic the 'real' reason, she didn't say a word when Sonic lifted his index finger, waving it to the left. Usually when Sonic does that, it means he knows and the person trying to speak doesn't have to give out the answer he already knows.

"That's what I thought at first," Sonic added. "One of the boys that ran away in fear is in my Advance Theater class, and when Shadow told me Blaze was bullied for most of her life today, I realized she did that because those boys were making fun of her, with one of the them saying 'Not only she's a **monster **but a complete **heartless bitch**' yesterday. And I assumed that freshman girl might be making fun of Blaze yesterday as well."

"She did," Cream answered, "and I told her it's her fault for making fun of someone just for the heck of it."

"Ouch," Amy and Tails commented.

"Is there anything else that's bothering you, Sonic?" Amy asked Sonic.

"Yeah," Sonic said, now laying on his back, "one more thing. I have a second opinion on Blaze on being a nice girl just like Silver said this morning, but it's been fighting against my first opinion on Blaze being a heartless loner. And I don't know if I should believe if Blaze is a mean girl or a nice girl."

Tails fell out of the bean bag chair not because of the position he was in but what Sonic had said a few seconds ago. Tails thought that Sonic might hate Blaze for a while and will never be friends with her, but after hearing what Sonic is saying, maybe he might change his mind about what he said about Blaze.

_What can I say (Hey!)_

_There's my reflection in a new direction again_

_What can I say (Hey!)_

_In a million ways just one of those days again_

_What can I do about it nothing really_

_Don't feel much like touchy feely_

"Is that all you have to say, Mr. Ryan?" Cream wondered, jumping out of the chair and helping Tails stand back up.

"Yes," Sonic answered. "That's all I have to say. And again, tell me you're not going to get mad on what I just said."

Right when Sonic got back up in a sitting position, Amy just immediately hugged him, but unlike the times she hugged him, this one is much more comforting and he can actually breathe from her hugs.

"Like I said before, I'm not going to get mad at you just because of your opinions," Amy told Sonic, still hugging him gently.

"Yeah, Sonic," Tails agreed with Amy, now standing and pushing the bean bag chair away from him, "and it's great that you're thinking that Blaze is a nice girl."

"But like I mentioned, I don't know if Blaze is a nice girl," Sonic pointed out to Tails.

"Well, why don't you give Miss Barbara a second chance?" Cream suggested. "You always give second chances to everyone. So..."

"Why not do the same to Blaze?" Sonic finished what Cream was about to say. "I know that. Shadow suggested that to me earlier."

"Then take his advice and give her a second chance, starting tomorrow morning in English class," Amy said.

"That way, you'll get to know her better than you did today and yesterday," Tails added.

First Shadow suggested this idea and now his friends are also pleading to Sonic on giving Blaze a second chance. Sonic had to think about this idea for a few moments. The memory of Fiona being told off by Blaze replayed on his mind, followed by her comforting Cream and Tikal by stroking their hair with her fingers and braiding Cream's pigtails into delicate braids with gold ribbons on both the top and the bottom of her rusty blond hair. Those two scenes that are finished replaying in Sonic's mind are the top two reasons he should give Blaze a second chance. And with only those two scenes in his head, Sonic now thought of Blaze as a girl who's willing to stand up to others and a girl who's a sister-figure to those younger than her.

_So get away_

_Let's end this day_

His decision set on his mind, Sonic soon answered, "Okay. It wouldn't hurt to give Blaze a second chance."

After hearing Sonic's agreement to giving Blaze a second chance tomorrow at school, everybody cheered in joy and Amy hugged Sonic a bit tighter, but she's not making Sonic suffocate like last time. And somehow, Sonic wishes Amy's hugs were like this instead of her 'lovely' hugs she usually gives out to him.

Wait. What?!

"Uh... Can you let go of me Amy?" Sonic asked Amy, his cheeks blushing a brighter shade of pink. Maybe red if Amy clings to him a bit longer.

"Oh! Sure thing, Sonic," Amy nodded, letting go of Sonic while her cheeks turned to the same shade as Sonic's. "Let's get back to our project. Okay, Sonic?"

After what felt like a long time to Sonic, everyone continued to go back to what they were doing prior to this conversation. Tails assisting Cream on her Algebra I homework and Sonic listening to Amy about her thoughts on the first four chapters of their book. Sonic nodded his head on the parts he agreed with Amy while silently singing his favorite part of the song.

"_Write this off for, one of those days. One of those aw-aw-awful days!" _Sonic singed to himself.

Ready for what's about to come on for tomorrow, Sonic is eager to write off yesterday and write a new tomorrow. As in, forget about the thoughts of Blaze being a mean girl but a girl that's strong and kind to others.

"Uh... Miss Amy and Mr. Ryan," Cream asked her two green-eyed friends, "is it true that my mom said a word that's close to-"

"No! No she did not!" both Sonic and Amy responded, their tones harsher than they expected.

"Yeah, Cream. Your mom didn't say anything that's close to an insult," Tails told Cream, quickly getting her attention back to her Algebra I homework.

And if possible, maybe write off Cream attempting to ask if her mom said a word close to 'hooker' in English today.

* * *

**Author's Note: Well, here's Chapter 7 which focuses on Sonic (plus some Sonamy moments and maybe bits of Taiream moments as well) and decided to give Blaze another chance (Yea!). And like I mentioned in Chapter 6, I'm going to focus on another character (which is Espio), while including a few Knuxouge moments and a pairing (maybe two) I forgot to put on the summary (basically because I never planned this to happen originally).**

**Anyway, let's get to Sonic's name since this chapter focused on him! Ryan is Gaelic for "little king"; referencing Sonic being the king of speed and having the title of being "The Fastest Thing Alive". The last name Griffith is Welsh for "chief or lord", with Sonic being the leader on the adventures in the games. And yes, Sonic's name is a reference to Sonic's previous video game voice actors: Ryan Drummond and Jason Griffith. The first one who got that reference was TatlTails (no prize, but you do get a mention ;D).**

**The song that was played in this chapter was "One of Those Days" by Crush 40. Go look it up if you haven't. It's an amazing song!**

**And before I go, I want you guys to answer this question if you can. As of this chapter, what's your favorite line in this story? I made a few funny ones in some of the chapters, so I'd like to know which line you loved to read. Oh, and you can answer this question in later chapters.**

**If you liked this chapter so far, leave a review and tell me what you think! And thanks for the reviews!**


	8. Secret Idol

~ Asia Diamond (6:15 P.M.)~

Placing two scoops of vanilla ice cream on a bowl filled with shaved ice, evaporated milk, sweet beans, coconut gels, and bits of flan, Espio finally finished the last bowl of Halo-halo for a group of Middle School girls sitting near a window, and served it to them in a matter of seconds, with one of the girls giving Espio a flirty wink due to his looks. He's just wearing his work clothes: a black polo shirt with a red tie and black pants. Luckily, he ignored the 13-14 year-old girl's wink and went back to the counter and waited for the next group of customers entering this thriving restaurant.

Asia Diamond is one of the most popular restaurants in Beverly Hills, California, and it's bound to be packed no matter what day of the week it is. The weekends is Asia Diamond's most busiest days, having an average of 600 customers, while Mondays have about half of the weekend average. Why is this restaurant so popular? It pretty much serves food from not only Japan, China, Korea and Hong Kong but the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, and many more Asian countries out there. But according to the customers (mainly girls of all things): the employees makes Asia Diamond popular. As in **male** employees.

Half of the employees are either in high school or college, and all of them have remarkable appearances that makes the girls have hearts popping out of their eyes. Most of the males usually takes this job to flirt with the girl customers, but Espio applied for this job to help with the funds for the Chaotix Orphanage; along with another one.

Wait... Huh?!

Espio has two jobs he applied for. One being Asia Diamond (duh). His second job is being a waiter for Sapphire; a high-class four-star restaurant that serves elegant dishes from Europe. While the pay at Sapphire's is higher than Asia Diamond's, Espio prefers to work at the latter since there are people from his school who works at the same place, and talks to them as well unlike the former. It's not that Sapphire is a horrible place to work at, but being the only high school employee in there doesn't help as he never has a casual conversation with any of his co-workers who are older than twenty-four. With Asia Diamond, Espio can have a casual conversation with people he knows like Shadow, and recently, Jet and Wave.

"This is torture!"

And speaking of which, his two assigned English partners blasted out of the kitchen doors with their hands covering both of their ears. Why are they covering their ears to be exact?

"I hate it when Scourge gets to play his rap music at the restaurant," Wave muttered under her breath, pulling her long hair into a bun.

That. Most of the employees at Asia Diamond gets to choose what music they want to play all over the restaurant, and today happens to be Scourge's turn. And whenever Scourge gets to choose the music, he plays all of his favorite rap songs in one CD. ALL. Some of the customers gets annoyed when rap music is playing while eating, but it annoys all of the employees! Especially if they're working in the kitchen where the music is booming loud!

Hearing the comment from Wave, Espio listened to the music for only one second and he instantly covered his ears to avoid the current rap song that's playing.

"Is there a way we can change the CD?" asked Jet, hiding under the counter desk.

"Unfortunately, the CD must play all day until closing time," Espio answered, "and if you replace the CD, Scourge is going to get furious and will burn your head in the stove."

"What?! That's not fair!" Jet exclaimed angrily, getting out of the counter desk, somehow bumping his head.

"That's the rule, Jet," Wave added. "No exceptions."

"Great. My first week on the job and I'm already suffering from this god-awful music!"

Jet recently applied to Asia Diamond during the weekend since he needs to start saving for college in the future. He decided to work here since he knows Wave and Espio (as of today) and the restaurant is about five minutes away from where he lives when using his Extreme Gear to travel. While Jet did get lectured about the work policies from Wave, he didn't hear Wave mention about music since according to her:

_"The rules with music are pretty stupid anyway. So we'd better skip that."_

Jet wishes that Wave didn't skip the rules about music. That could have come in handy for once. Like right now with this rap music still echoing through the restaurant! Oh, how anyone could have teared through the stereo right now just to remove this awful music from humming through the atmosphere!

"Not this music again!" a voice commented as they entered the restaurant.

But before anyone can make a move, the Shard family, along with Rouge now sporting a magenta floral t-shirt and purple jeans, entered the restaurant with their ears covered by their hands. And the reason is so obvious! The music. **How. Much. They. Despise. It.**

Sure, Knuckles listens to some rap, but he despised the rap that mentions suggestive themes he hears a lot in the radio nowadays. And hearing it right now in this restaurant makes Knuckles want to punch something really badly. Really.

"Don't tell me today is Scourge's turn to choose the music," Rouge commented.

"Unfortunately, yes," Wave muttered, answering Rouge's question while slamming her head on the counter desk. "He had to play 'that' rap music."

Confused on what Wave meant, Knuckles' father, Rae, asked his son, "What does this girl mean by 'that' rap music?"

"The rap music that blurts out inappropriate themes and says bad words like every five to seven seconds," Knuckles answered. "And like Rouge mentioned earlier, 'that boy' decided to play it."

Seeing his son putting air quotations on 'that boy' made Rae clench both of his fist and teeth tightly in anger. 'That boy' Knuckles mentioned was Scourge, and oh dear lord, how much Rae loathed that boy so much. One reason was his immature attitude towards everyone he speaks, and the other... The other wasn't such a pleasant sight for everyone in the restaurant to see. Especially during the summer.

Witnessing Rae's actions, both Espio and Wave face-palmed themselves while muttering, "Oh, god. Not again."

"What are you guys talking about?" Jet wondered with his two co-workers expressions.

Right. Jet wasn't here when this event happened. Espio and Wave, however, did witnessed the event that involved the Shard family and Scourge. Or what Rae dubs him:

_"The most pleasant boy in the world? More like the most pleasant jackass in the world!"_

As in irresponsible, doesn't act like he's a high school student, doesn't take things seriously, makes fun of people for the hell of it like Fiona, and the list can go on for hours and take up over fifteen sheets of paper.

"How should I explain it to you, Jet?" Wave questioned herself. "It's a bit too complicated yet hilarious to tell you about that event."

"Tell me what, Wave? I want to know about that event!" Jet demanded, stomping his feet in the floor.

"That event involving Sadam getting what he deserves by Kennith," Espio started to explain to Jet.

"Really? How did it happen?"

The details Espio told Jet about the 'event': Somewhere in the middle of summer, the Shard family were already being seated near a window and Scourge was going to take their order for the day. Scourge didn't want to serve the Shard family at first since he and Knuckles don't get along very well, including his friends (mainly Sonic). However, once Scourge spotted Tikal in her white summer dress with his dark blue eyes, he didn't mind at all and right-off the bat, flirted with her before he took their orders for drinks. Both Knuckles and Rae didn't like the sight of Scourge flirting with Tikal while he's working, and Rae's demands for Scourge to get back to work were completely ignored. If that wasn't enough for Rae, he had to overhear Scourge say this 'pick-up' line to Tikal. That pick-up line?

_"Is your dad a terrorist? Because you might be the bomb."_

"Dear god, Knuckles' dad must have been pissed off when Scourge said that to Tikal." Jet commented to Espio's explanation.

"He did," Espio answered casually, "and things ended up going downhill from there. And by downhill..."

"...Violence was thrown in," Wave finished Espio's sentence, grabbing four menus for the Shards plus Rouge. "Rae was about to unleash his rage to Scourge while saying these exact words: '_Young man, why I 'ought to give you a good-old fashioned-'_ when all of a sudden, Knuckles..." She didn't need to finish her sentence. Instead, Wave clenched one fist and slammed it as hard as she can to her other hand, falling to the counter desk.

Understanding what Wave did, Jet nodded his head while trying his best not to laugh. All he can mutter out was, "Damn. That must have hurt."

It did hurt for Scourge. The only part both Espio and Wave left off was Knuckles interrupting Rae by yelling to Scourge while punching him in the face with all his might, breaking one of the doors. They left that part because of what Knuckles has said to Scourge before the older brother harmed the green spiky-haired teen. Those words? Uh...

_"FALCON PUNCH!"_

Yeah. Not after a while Knuckles had said that overused phrase, he also added:

_"AND I HOPE YOU STEP ON A PILE OF LEGOS!"_

Plus that phrase as well. Why legos of all things, they didn't want to know.

Few seconds after explaining the event to Jet, a new song played in the speakers, and out of all things, it had to be everybody's most hated artist that's playing right now. The fact he says a suggestive theme in just one second doesn't help at all, not to mention it's playing louder than before. Most of the people in the restaurant stopped what they're doing and covered their ears to avoid listening to this so-called music!

"I hate Scourge. I hate Scourge. I. Freakin'. Hate. That. **Asshole**!" Wave cursed, putting much more emphasis on her last word while picking up the menus.

"Uh... Takeshi-san..." Tikal started, slightly shouting to get Espio's attention, "Does it bother you if we leave right now just to-"

Knowing what Tikal is saying, Espio quickly responded, "Sure. At least you won't have to suffer from this music all day like I am."

"And it would be great if somebody stops this music so you won't suffer," Rouge suggested, lowering her head down with her hands covering her ears.

And if on cue, the rap music stopped echoing through the restaurant, with everybody uncovering their ears while sighing in relief that the music is finally gone. While everyone is happy that the rap music is gone, Espio, Jet, and Wave stared at each other on who turned off the music.

Their answer is now revealed as Shadow transported out of the kitchen using Chaos Control while tossing a CD in the air. Along with stopping time for a moment, Shadow can also transport himself to wherever he likes as long as he wears his two golden bracelets on both hands. It really comes in handy like now.

"Wish granted," Shadow muttered, tossing the CD into the trash can.

"Shadow, how did you...?" Espio started to ask Shadow.

"I simply used Chaos Control to stop time in the kitchen, found the CD player and replaced the CD before transporting here," Shadow explained in a casual tone, like it's no big deal.

"And did Scourge caught you in the act?"

"Nope. Let's just say I put Scourge in a place he least expected."

"And that's...?" Jet and Wave asked Shadow.

The sound of falling pots and pans can be heard in the kitchen along with a scream that can belong to a certain somebody. That somebody being Scourge.

"YEOUCH! WHO THE HELL PUT MY ARM ON THE OVEN?!" Scourge screamed, causing Jet, Wave and Rouge to laugh, with Jet laughing hard that he fell on the floor like he did in English this morning.

"No way, Shadow!" Rouge exclaimed while laughing. "I can't believe you would do something like that!"

"Hey. He deserved it," Shadow commented. "And now you don't have to listen to that rap-crap."

"Then what do we have to listen?"

"This music coming up in about five seconds."

After five seconds, a drum, trumpet and a guitar were playing in the background before the female starts singing the actual song, along with a male one.

_I don't like walking around this old and empty house_

_So hold my hand I'll walk with you my dear_

_The stairs creek as you sleep it's keeping me awake_

_It's the house telling you to close your eyes_

"Anyway, since I know what you're going to order, do you want me to take you to the tables?" Espio asked. He knows what the four order in Asia Diamond, along with the drinks, so serving them is no problem for Espio.

"Yes, sir," Rae told Espio before he cleared his throat. "But before you take us to our table, Rouge wanted to order something different."

"Really? And what does she want?" questioned Espio, pulling out a small notepad with a pen from his front pockets. This surprised Espio since Rouge usually orders a bowl of Vietnam noodles and shares it with Tikal, but Espio assumed that she wants to try something new.

"Maybe some Summer Rolls would be nice," Rouge told Espio.

"And do want your usual green tea?"

"Yes. And I guess Tikal should have the Vietnam noodle soup to herself," Rouge added.

"Wha..?!" Tikal exclaimed in surprise. Unlike Knuckles, Rae and Rouge, Tikal was never a big eater to begin with, and hearing the news on getting the entree to herself makes her uneasy. She can't even get to the half of the bowl without Rouge's help! Wanting to know, Tikal asked Rouge, "But why?"

But before Rouge can answer, Knuckles cut in and said, "Because Rouge wants to compete with me in an eating contest! That's why Tikal!"

"Yeah! That's exactly right!" Rouge agreed, hitting Knuckles arm with her elbow. "And there's no way I'm going to lose to you, Knucklehead!"

"We'll see about that!" Knuckles growled before turning to his dad and asked, "Hey dad. Do you mind if we have our eating contest in the future?"

"I don't mind at all, Kennith," Rae told his son, being a bit disappointed that he can't compete with his son. Usually, Rae and Knuckles have eating contests to prove who's the better eater, with most of them having a different winner every time. But seeing Knuckles compete with Rouge for being the better eater might be a sight Rae won't mind at all.

"Now then, let's make things a little interesting," said Rouge, her head twisting to the left with her hand on it.

_Oh dear. _Tikal thought, knowing what Rouge is going to do.

Whenever Rouge says "Let's make things a little interesting" to someone, mainly Knuckles, it could mean one thing: a bet. And most of the time, the bets for Knuckles and Rouge can get a little rough. Or in better terms: dangerous. The bets can range from a game of soccer to a race to a certain point, and most of the time, the results varies. Either Rouge or Knuckles wins, or it can result in a tie. But if that wasn't enough, the rewards Knuckles and Rouge came up with are just insane; most of them humiliating the other.

Hearing this from Rouge, Knuckles gave out a small smile before replying with, "Sure thing, bat girl! If I win, you can't be wearing make-up for a month unless it's for a photo shoot."

"Sounds fair to me. But if I win, you have to be with me on my photo shoots until October 19th," Rouge told Knuckles. "How does that sound?"

"Fine to me, because I'm going to win!"

"Oh, don't get too overconfident, Knucklehead!"

Before this could get tense, Shadow popped in between Knuckles and Rouge and said, "Now, will you follow me to your table so you can start your bet in about ten minutes?"

The Shards and Rouge nodded their heads in agreement before following Shadow to their table, while Espio started getting the four drinks from the kitchen. However, before he can even enter the kitchen, he almost lost his balance when Jet shoved him just to get into the kitchen before Wave can.

_Jeez. Those two..._ Espio muttered in his mind while overhearing their conversation.

"Wave, there's no way you're making the pancit again!" Jet yelled, stopping at the kitchen door along with Wave.

"And why not?" Wave demanded, tapping her feet rapidly.

"Because the last time you tried making it in my house, you burned it!"

"That was your brother's fault, short head!"

"Short head?! How much I hate you for calling me a short head!"

"Well, it's not my fault that I'm three inches taller than you!" Wave bragged to Jet.

"Hey! I'm the tallest one in my family, Wave!" Jet pointed out.

"That's good for you, but not good enough for me, short head," Wave commented.

And the last thing Espio heard from Jet before the two entered the kitchen was him yelling, "Wave, you little...! Once we get into the kitchen, you get the drinks while I make the pancit. And don't you dare get near that dish!"

Espio face-palmed himself after hearing this conversation with those two. He knew Jet and Wave have been friends for a long time since they were six years old, but most of the time they acted like siblings more than friends due to their constant bickering and arguing over petty topics like this one Espio heard earlier. Despite that, these two are always there for each other for thick and thin. Maybe they could end up... Nah. Too early to think about that.

Espio sighed as he was about to enter the kitchen until Shadow called, "Hey, Espio. Can you come over here for a minute?"

"Sure," the purple-haired teen said, walking to the counter desk. "What is it?"

"Can you clean up the bathrooms for me since I have to make the orders for Knuckles' table?" asked Shadow.

"Yes. It'll be no problem for me," Espio agreed to Shadow's favor before grabbing a near-by mop, bucket, rag towel and air freshener bottle from under the cleaning drawer.

"And don't forget to knock on the door before entering the-"

"I got it," Espio finished Shadow's sentence, knowing what he's going to say before walking to the bathroom halls.

Of course, Shadow would say the girl's bathroom, but surprisingly, the bathrooms in Asia Diamond are rarely used, and cleaning the bathrooms is just a mere simple chore to Espio. Heck, the dirtiest the bathrooms has ever been is when somebody threw up on the sinks or the floors! Even then, Espio always managed to do this task with no problems and complaints.

Once Espio reached the bathroom halls, he decided to do the girl's bathroom first like always since he needs to get over it for obvious reasons. And remembering Shadow's suggestion on knocking the door before entering the girl's bathroom, Espio knocked on it a few times to see if any girl is still inside. He waited for ten seconds before he started twisting the door knob. But before he can push the door, Espio heard the sink running and somebody singing the song that's currently playing.

_Some days I can't even dress myself_

_It's killing me to see you this way_

_Cause though the truth may vary_

_This ship will carry our_

_Bodies safe to shore_

Curious as to who the voice belongs to, Espio slightly peaked his head through the door, and his eyes grew wide in surprise when he couldn't believe who is currently singing: Tikal! She's currently washing her hands while singing to herself.

_"There's an old voice in my head that's holding me back. Well tell her that I miss our little talks. Soon it will all be over and buried with our past. We used to play outside when we were young and full of life and full of love." _Tikal singed, hitting every note perfectly despite singing softly and quietly to herself.

However, her singing was cut short when the door made a loud creaking noise and Tikal slightly shrieked when her purple-red eyes spotted Espio entering the bathroom.

"Wha... What are y... you doing h... here, T... T... Takeshi-san?" Tikal nervously asked Espio, hoping he did not hear what she just did.

"I'm here to clean the bathroom," Espio answered casually.

"Oh. That's why you're carrying those cleaning equipment with you."

"Yeah. I have to do it for Shadow since he needs to prepare the food for your table." Espio explained to Tikal while walking to the sink and filling the bucket with some water and soap.

"I see," Tikal sighed, glad that Espio didn't mention anything about her singing. Seeing Espio placing the bucket on the floor and dipping the mop into it, Tikal knew she had to leave the bathroom and let Espio continue with his work. She walked backwards for five steps before placing her hand on the door knob and saying, "Well, I better not disturb you from your work, Takeshi-san. So I'll be-"

But before Tikal can finish her sentence, Espio asked the orange-haired girl, "Can I ask you a question before you leave?"

Taking her hand away from the door, Tikal responded, "Sure. W... What is it that you want to ask me?"

"Were you singing earlier?"

_Oh, god. He did heard me! WHY?!_ Tikal panicked in her mind, scratching her hair all around now that her worst fear came true: someone hearing her sing.

Singing is Tikal's favorite thing in the whole world to do ever since she was two. She would always sing whenever she's taking a shower, doing her homework, washing the dishes after dinner, walking their family dog, Chomps, and pretty much whenever Tikal is alone. Somehow, her voice is beautiful that some animals, even a raccoon, surround her veranda every morning when brushing her hair. She remembered a baby chick entering the house because of her singing voice and ended up in Knuckles' room, with him questioning how a baby chick got here.

But when it came to singing to other people... Uh... That's a different story. Tikal doesn't like it when she's criticized too harshly on anything she does. **Anything**. Including... 'that hobby'.

Tikal didn't know how to answer Espio's question! Should she lie? No. Besides Espio, she's the only one in this bathroom! Knowing she has to tell the truth, Tikal took five long deep breaths before speaking to Espio.

"Err..." Tikal started out, "I... I... I..."

"So you were singing or-" Espio started to ask, but didn't expect this to happen to Tikal out of all things.

"YES I WAS SINGING! OKAY?! HAPPY?!" Tikal finally blurted out with a tear falling in her eye.

_God, she yelled so loud. _Espio thought, putting the rag towel and air freshener bottle on the sink.

After Tikal had answered Espio's question, the only thing that can be heard in the bathroom is the song Tikal was singing a few moments ago. Very clearly.

_Some days I feel like I'm wrong when I'm right_

_Your mind is playing dirty tricks my dear_

_Cause though the truth may vary _

_This ship will carry our_

_Bodies safe to shore_

Instead of leaving like she wanted to a few minutes ago, Tikal ended up on her knees and started to cry softly from not only telling Espio about her singing but that Espio of all people has heard her sing! Why?! Why couldn't have been Knuckles, Silver, Amy, Tails, Cream, Rouge, or even Sonic?! She's comfortable with talking to them, but with Espio? It's fine, but not to the point of saying things in confidence in front of his face.

And now that Espio heard Tikal sing, what is he going to say about her voice? Tikal knew her voice is beautiful, but she didn't know if Espio is going to think the same. Would he?

Seeing Tikal crying her eyes out, Espio kneel down on the floor, and gently stroked her orange hair with his fingers while wiping her tears with his other free hand.

"T... Takeshi-san..." is all Tikal can say when she didn't expect Espio to still be here trying to comfort her.

"Tikal, don't cry," Espio whispered to her. "I guess I didn't have to ask you that question if that would make you cry."

"No... It's okay, Takeshi-san. It's just that... Well..."

"You never like to sing when people are around?" Espio guessed, not knowing it's true to Tikal.

"Actually, yes."

Wow. That was Espio's first guess. He had other guesses he can just throw off, but hearing this answer actually erases all of his guesses. They were kind of off to begin with anyway.

"Really? Why?" asked Espio. "If you want to answer, that is."

"Sure," Tikal replied, though she somewhat squeaked. "To be honest, before you heard me, I'd never sing whenever somebody is around because... Err... I'm afraid that..."

"You're afraid that...?" Espio repeated the question.

"I'm afraid they'll think my voice is horrible. And you know how much I don't like being criticized."

Espio didn't know if he should slap himself in the face or just remain silent. However, he didn't do any of the options he thought of, but instead said, "So now that I've heard you sing, should I tell you what I think about your voice?"

_Um... No,_ could have been the answer Tikal could have said to Espio, but she ended up answering, "I guess. But don't be too harsh."

Of course he wouldn't. This is the first time Espio has ever heard Tikal sing. She didn't sing with everybody when their favorite song played on the radio at a sleepover. Whenever karaoke is involved at a party and Rouge asked if Tikal can sing the next song, she frantically shakes her head and hides behind Knuckles. And even on birthdays when everybody sings "Happy Birthday", she just remained silent but is still smiling when she looks at the person blowing out the birthday candles.

But now Espio heard Tikal singing all alone in the girl's bathroom of all places, and has to honestly tell her what he thinks about her voice. He looked at Tikal who's currently closing her eyes and clenching her hands tightly into fists while shivering in fear, thinking she's ready for her voice to be harshly criticized.

His answer already set, Espio placed his hands on her shoulders to stop her shaking, and answered, "Beautiful."

_… Huh? _That's all Tikal's mind can think of when Espio told his opinion. It was just one word. One single yet soft word. She thought there would be a few more coming out, but no more after that. She's just... speechless. Just... speechless.

"Uh... Tikal?" Espio tried to call to her.

No answer.

"Tikal?" he tried again.

Still no answer, but at least she turned her head to him.

"Tikal Shard," he slightly yelled, but not to the point of anger.

"Y... Yes?" Tikal finally spoke nervously.

"Well, I gave you my opinion on your voice."

"And... you said it was... beautiful?"

"Yes."

"And do you really mean it?" Tikal asked, not taking Espio's opinion seriously.

"I mean it 100%, Tikal. Honest," Espio answered. "I'm always honest with my opinions, so this is my honest response to your voice."

"Really? You don't think it's... You know..."

"No. It's not like Fiona's god awful singing or Mina's glass-wrecking voice." Espio commented, shuttering a little thinking about their voices. God, these two voices can wreck the school building.

"So you think I'm..."

"Yes. You're an excellent singer with the most amazing voice I've ever heard."

Whoa! Tikal never expected to hear that from Espio! But then again, he did say he's always true with his opinions. Hearing this comment made Tikal's face blush into the shade of a velvet cake, and can feel her heart beating faster than before! This is enough to give her a heart attack!

"Gosh... I don't know what to say," Tikal replied to Espio's complement. "I guess I should say thank you, Takeshi-san."

"Glad to hear that," Espio smiled to Tikal. "And do mind if you answer one more question before you go?"

"Go ahead," Tikal said, finally clear from her tears.

"Did you ever think about signing up for being Homecoming Idol?"

Espio thought Tikal is never going to answer this question and will end up storming out of the bathroom door, but she actually answered:

"I did."

Surprised to hear this from Tikal, Espio added, "You actually wanted to?"

"Yes. I overheard my brother commenting that no freshman has ever been Homecoming Idol, so I thought about signing up in the front office."

"And did you sign up?"

"Unfortunately, no. It's because the list I saw had plenty of great singers, and I thought I'm not going to do well against them. And there's one more thing that prevented me from signing up."

"Stage fright?" Espio guessed.

"That too," Tikal nodded her head to Espio's answer. "I always get nervous when there's too many people, and I can never speak clearly to them. And if I do sign up, I'll have to sing in front of a lot of people in next Friday's Pep Rally!"

That's basically how those who signed up get nominated for Homecoming Idol. Fiona doesn't have to do the singing part since she practically bribed the one who's responsible for the sign ups by using her good-looks. How it goes is that those who signed up gets to perform a song of their choice during the school Pep Rally at 3:30 in the gym (school appropriate of course), and once all the performers are done, the audience gets to decide the top ten nominees (or nine due to Fiona's dumb bribe). And Espio did remembered that a few freshman girls did signed up, but never made it to be a nominee. So hearing Tikal eager to sign up for Homecoming Idol after listening to her voice gave Espio an idea. A great one in fact.

"Then why not try signing up again tomorrow?" Espio suggested.

"Eh?" Tikal can say, surprised that Espio suggested that.

"I mean, you do have an amazing voice and a sweet personality that everyone likes, so you should sign up for Homecoming Idol."

"I should?"

"Definitely," Espio nodded his head. "Besides, once you perform next Friday, everybody will be astonished that you can sing. Especially your brother. I promise."

"But what about my stage fright? Remember?" Tikal reminded Espio.

Right. He didn't think Tikal would agree into signing up for Homecoming Idol tomorrow morning. And with her not singing in front of others plus of her horrible case of stage fright, it would equal Tikal fainting right when the song of her choice played.

Only a few seconds later, a light-blub glowed brightly in Espio's head, having a great idea that can help with Tikal's stage fright. A very great idea indeed.

"I have a suggestion that might work," Espio started. "Maybe you can visit the Chaotix Orphanage tomorrow after school and I can hear you sing in private in my room. Does that work for you?"

"Sure!" Tikal agreed with Espio's suggestion. "But I might have to tell my brother about my plans tomorrow or he'll-"

"I know," Espio finished Tikal's sentence, knowing that Knuckles will freak out if Tikal isn't with him after school. "You can tell him about your plans for tomorrow after school, but not the singing part. Okay?"

"Okay. And again, thank you for your honest opinion about my voice. It's really nice."

"Good to hear that, Tikal," said Espio before he got himself back to a standing position.

"Also," Tikal started right when she got up from her knees and to her feet, "you did said that I have a sweet personality, right?"

"Yes I did." Espio replied, grabbing the air freshener bottle off of the sink.

"What did you mean by that?"

But before Espio can start his explanation with Tikal, Rouge barged into the girl's bathroom door and spotted Espio and Tikal in the room.

"Uh... Espio, why are you in the girl's bathroom?" Rouge questioned the orange-yellow eyed boy.

Espio pointed to the bucket of water and a mop still in there just to give a clear answer to Rouge.

"Oh. You're cleaning the bathroom. I understand."

"Um... Rouge, what are you doing here?" Tikal asked the model.

"Hello? The food is already here and I don't want you to miss the eating contest I'm going to have with your brother," Rouge told the lone Shard female while grabbing her hand. "Besides, this might be the best one yet."

"Why's that, Rouge?"

"Because Knucklehead is going to lose to yours truly!" Rouge yelled extremely loud in the bathroom that at least some people can hear in the restaurant.

"I heard that, bat girl!" Knuckles replied back outside the restroom.

Rouge giggled to herself after hearing Knuckles' comment before staring to speak. "Anyway, let's get going before our food turns cold! And you know how much I hate it when that happens."

"Uh... Sure, Rouge," Tikal nodded before being dragged out of the bathroom by Rouge.

And with that, Espio is left alone in the bathroom and started to spray the entire room with lilac air freshener. After the air smelled like flowers, he started to wipe the floors with the mop while silently listening to the song that's now playing.

_Don't listen to a word I say_

_Hey!_

_The streets all sound the same_

_Hey!_

_Though the truth may vary_

_This ship will carry our_

_Bodies safe to shore_

Shortly after the chorus ended, Rouge re-entered the bathroom all alone by kicking the door, loud enough to make one bathroom stall door fall to the tiled floor. Based on how much strength Rouge put into kicking that door, Espio knew something is up. However, this moment seemed different. Usually, Rouge kicked the door with her aquamarine eyes glaring at her victim and her mouth giving a small growl. But now, Rouge has a small smile on her face and her eyes is more relaxed than normal.

Sounds of her boots were slowly clacking on the tile floor one by one until she confronted Espio about seven inches away from him.

"So Espio sweetie," Rouge started in her usual sweet and smooth tone, "what were you talking about with Tikal? Something involving her signing up for Homecoming Idol because she has a marvelous singing voice?"

"So you did overheard our conversation? Am I right?" Espio questioned Rouge, knowing she heard it due to her excellent hearing.

"Correct, Espio!" Rouge cheered. "You are one intelligent boy."

"And does Tikal know you overheard her conversation with me?"

"Not a single bit. I'll keep my mouth shut until next Friday! You have my word, Espio."

"Alright. And you better keep your promise, Rouge," Espio told Rouge in a quiet tone.

"I will! Oh, and before I go, what did you mean when you said Tikal had a sweet personality?"

This question again, but Rouge is the one asking it this time. Well, Espio had his answer planned out already anyway, so he might as well get this over with.

"Well, Tikal-"

Only two words came out of Espio's mouth and he was interrupted again, only this time it was Knuckles who's yelling to Rouge while outside of the girl's bathroom.

"Rouge! What the hell is taking you so long in there?!" Knuckles demanded, banging on a wall outside.

"I'm just washing my hands, Knucklehead!" Rouge quickly answered, turning on the faucets to make it sound believable.

"Well can you hurry up?! I'm dying for this eating contest to start already!"

"Okay! I'll be there in a minute and secure my victory!"

"You are not going to win, bat girl!"

"Yes I am! And when I do, you'll get to watch me on all my fabulous photo shoots!" Rouge singed on her last word.

"HELL NO!" Knuckles screamed loud in the restaurant, stomping his way back to his table.

Turning off the faucets, Rouge quickly walked from the girl's bathroom before waving Espio good-bye and giving him a small wink, leaving him all alone once again.

He once again continued on his work while thinking about that little talk with Tikal about her singing, signing up for Homecoming Idol tomorrow morning at school, and hearing her sing in private at the Chaotix Orphanage after school to make her feel more comfortable when singing with others. Unlike most days when he just patiently waits for tomorrow to come, Espio really wants this day to be over and tomorrow to arrive just to hear Tikal's sweet little...

Oh god, what is Espio thinking?!

While Espio was thinking, his foot accidentally knocked down the bucket, pouring the floor filled with water and soap everywhere! This has never happened to him before. He gave out an annoyed sigh before snatching the rag towel off the sink and started to wipe the floor.

Yeah. He really wants tomorrow to come. Like right now.

* * *

**Author's Note: Uh... Does having a friendly bet (eating contest) count as a Knuxouge moment to you guys? Well, at least I gave you how their relationship is like as of this chapter. And you better guess the two couples that I forgot to mention in the summary.**

**Anyway, I guess I'll explain Knuckles' name since he was so entertaining to write in this chapter. His first name in this story, Kennith, is English for "comely; finely made" and "born of fire"; possessing fire powers in Sonic Heroes (I think he did) and having finely made strength. The last name Shard is somewhat a reference to Knuckles collecting the Master Emerald shards in the Sonic Adventure games. **

**And if you don't know what Halo-halo or pancit is, go Google it. I know these foods because I ate them before and the fact that I'm Filipino (it's a true fact)!  
**

**Now that this Chapter is over, I'm going back on focusing on the two main characters, but Chapters 7 and 8 are important for a reason.**

**And now I have another question to ask you guys. Not counting the Archie Characters, did I made everyone stay in-character? I know some Sonic High School fanfics have some of the characters act OOC (out of character), and I'm not a big fan when they act all OOC. If you can answer that question, that'll be great! And like I mentioned in Chapter 7, you can answer the last question about your favorite line in this story if you like.**

**Well, I guess that's all I have to-**

**Wait. I almost forgot the song that was mentioned in this Chapter. It's called "Little Talks" by Of Monsters and Men. An excellent song!**

**Now that's everything I have to say! Again, if you liked this sweet chapter, don't forget to leave a review! And remember: Proper grammar and proper spelling as well! Please.**


	9. Invitation

~Friday: Chaotix Orphanage (7:50 A.M.)~

_Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick..._

Besides the constant ticking clock hanging on the kitchen walls, Silver finished his plate of scrambled eggs in silence and placed them in the sink, turning on the faucets and let the water wash all of the few scraps and crumbs off the blue plate. Once he finished cleaning up the plate, Silver looked to see if Espio is downstairs in the living room, but he wasn't there, tossing his car keys like he always does every morning. As a matter of fact, Espio hasn't left the room ever since Silver woke up fifty minutes ago! What could be taking him so long?!

Usually, Espio is up at 6:30 making breakfast with Vector for everyone, putting his clothes on in ten to twenty seconds, waking up the orphans since some of them go to school, and waited for Silver to be finish with everything by this time. Today, Espio didn't do any of that; especially the part of waking up at 6:30. He always wakes up at 6:30 regardless on what time he slept or what day it is. This is probably the first time Espio hasn't woken up at 6:30! And of all days, it had to be a school day. And on a Friday.

Curious if Espio is awake, Silver exited the kitchen and hurried through the stairs in his gray boots to enter his room he shared with Espio. The two shared this room together ever since Silver arrived at the Chaotix Orphanage nine years ago, and they never had problems with each other besides the minor arguments on various topics such as school, taking turns to watch the little orphans, who's going to the market to buy groceries, and much more.

Once Silver entered the room, he spotted Espio still sleeping peacefully in his bed, his head buried in his black pillows. Either Espio drink two glasses of warm milk last night, or he had trouble sleeping due to his rough day at work (and by rough, suffering from Scourge's rap music for a while, having to deal with flirty teenage girls, and arriving home at almost eleven thirty due to some last minute cleanings in the bathrooms!). Silver was about to wake up Espio by tapping him on the shoulders, but Vector stormed through the door, carrying a bucket filled with cold water and ice cubes.

Oh. Dear. Lord. Whenever Vector does this, it usually means that if someone in the orphanage doesn't wake up when he tells them to the first time, he'll throw the bucket of sub-zero water to them. Silver knew that because Vector did that to him on his first day of High School last year! And it wasn't pretty.

"TAKESHI KANEKO! WAKE UP FOR GOD'S SAKE!" Vector screamed before throwing the bucket.

Seeing this, Silver used his psychokinesis to stop the water and ice from splashing Espio in mid-air, the water barely touching the sheets, and levitated the cold liquid into the bucket before returning it to Vector.

"Vector, that's no way to wake up Espio." Silver lectured his thirty-two year old guardian.

"Sorry," Vector apologized to Silver, "but Espio should have been up eighty minutes ago. He's the earliest risers in this house besides me."

"I know, Vector," Silver agreed with Vector, knowing that fact is true. "He did arrived home looking all exhausted last night from work. Maybe that's why he isn't waking up."

"But he still wakes up early even when he's dead tired!"

"Or maybe he has a nightmare." Silver tried to guess again.

Clearly frustrated and confused on why Espio isn't awake, Vector kneel down on his knees, put on his headphones while choosing a song from his iPod Shuffle, grabbed Espio's black electric guitar and cleared his throat a couple of times.

_Oh great. Why did it have to come to this?_ Silver groaned in his mind, seeing Vector is going to do his worst in a few seconds: singing. With a guitar. Vector is excellent when it comes to playing any type of instrument, but with singing: it might be enough to destroy a high-tech robot army or two.

Luckily, before Vector opened his mouth and started strumming the guitar, Espio lifted his head off the pillow and growled to his green-haired guardian, "If you start to sing, I'll throw my shurikens at you. And put my electric guitar back where you found it!"

"Thank god you're awake!" Vector cheered while putting Espio's electric guitar in his guitar stand. "You had us worried for a moment!"

"Huh?"

"You didn't wake up at 6:30 like you always do." Silver told Espio. "Not to mention it's the first time you've woken up at a different time."

"Oh." was all Espio can say before yawning.

However, his orange-yellow eyes shot wide open when Silver mentioned the words 'different time'. If he didn't woke up at 6:30, then...

"What time is it?" Espio rashly asked Silver and Vector, sitting up in his bed.

"Uh..." both Silver and Vector manage to say.

Actually, they had no idea what to say to Espio! This is the first time Espio asked "What time is it?" in the mornings. Sure, he said that line during school, at both Asia Diamond and Sapphire, and at someone's house (mainly Sonic's) whenever it's getting late, but never when he wakes up. Instead of telling Espio the time, Vector snatched the gray wireless digital alarm clock from the desk and gave it to Espio to see the time.

Silence remained in the room once Espio took hold of the alarm clock, but the silence quickly died once Espio threw the alarm clock with enormous force at the wall before jumping out of bed and yelled, "It's 7:57?!"

"Yes." Silver and Vector answered silently as they slowly exited the room before storming down into the living room, plummeting into the couch.

"I never thought Espio would react like that." Silver commented, getting back into a sitting position.

"Me neither." Vector agreed with Silver. "I wonder why he didn't wake up at 6:30?"

But before Silver can come up with an answer to Vector, Espio rushed down the stairs looking all ready with his hair neatly combed, wearing a plain blue long-sleeved shirt, a black cross necklace, gray pants, and his signature black Adidas shoes, tossing his car keys in his hands. But instead of telling Silver to get inside the car like he always does, Espio stormed through the kitchen doors and ended up grabbing a bottle of whole milk and two pieces of toast filled with strawberry jelly; one hanging from his mouth.

Normally, Espio would have some eggs, a green apple and a glass of orange juice for breakfast, but not today. There's no time for Espio to make breakfast as he needs to get to school quickly to see if Tikal has already signed up for Homecoming Idol! Not to mention he doesn't want to end up being late for school as traffic is extremely lethargic and he always stops at that cursed stoplight! How much he hates that stoplight.

Removing the toast from his mouth, Espio ordered Silver, "Venice, get in the car now."

Hearing this from Espio, Silver leaped out of the couch, grabbing his backpack off the wooden floor and rushed out of the orphanage before Espio put the toast filled with jelly back into his mouth. Espio grabbed his black backpack from the front door, but before he can exit out of the door and into his car, Vector blocked the door for Espio, causing the sixteen-year old to kick Vector in the face as hard as he can. However, Vector shielded him face by using his left arm and grabbed Espio's leg with his right arm.

"Vector, what the hell?!" Espio viciously yelled to Vector.

"Okay, Espio. Talk to me." Vector simply said to Espio in a calm voice.

"Talk to you about what?!"

"About why you overslept. That's what I want to know."

"I just... Just simply had a-"

"Hard day at work. I know." Vector finished Espio's 'answer'. "But I doubt it's that. You're always full of energy even when you're exhausted. Now tell me the real reason why you've overslept. Is it about a dream of your parents?"

Even though Espio still dreams about his parent's death every few months or so, not this time.

"You had a nightmare?"

Nope.

"Uh... This might sound stupid, but were you dreaming about a girl?" Vector guessed for the third time.

Oh. Crap. Why did Vector had to ask this question?! Why?!

Because this is the reason why he didn't wake up at 6:30! The girl Espio dreamed last night: Tikal. From that dream, Espio remembered seeing Tikal singing all alone under a tree full of cherry blossoms until he appeared and listened to Tikal singing some songs, including a Japanese song: Sakura, Sakura. And in that dream, Espio remembered him giving Tikal a small yet sweet smile to her. God, thinking about this dream is making his cheeks blush a little, though enough for Vector to notice.

"I knew it was about a girl." Vector chuckled to himself. "I can tell because you're cheeks are-"

"Shut up, Vector!" Espio yelled to Vector in an annoyed tone.

"Oh, come on! Tell me, who's the girl you were dreaming about?"

Before Espio can answer Vector his answer, he can hear Silver yelling, "Espio, are we going now? It's already 8'o clock!"

Hearing this, Espio shoved Vector out of the door and he exited out of the orphanage and quickly entered his black Toyota car, along with Silver. He then put on his seat-belt, inserted the keys, twisting them for the car to start, and hastily pushed the gas pedal with full force that he almost crashed into an incoming mini-van.

"Espio, be careful!" Silver commented. "You could have killed someone!"

"Sorry." Espio apologized to his white-haired friend.

"You know, you've just woken up three minutes ago and I think it's not a good idea for you to drive. Maybe we can-"

Screeching the car into a complete halt from not seeing an incoming stop sign but hearing Silver asking a question, Espio suddenly yelled to his friend, "NO! WE'RE NOT GOING TO GET A RIDE FROM SOMEONE ELSE! AND I'M PERFECTLY CAPABLE OF DRIVING, VENICE! OKAY?!"

"I... I got it, Espio. You don't have to yell at me. I was just giving you a suggestion."

After the short yet harsh argument from Espio, Silver didn't talk to him for the entire car ride and ended up listening to his iPod while staring at the window.

* * *

~Emerald High School (8:37 A.M)~

Hearing the first bell echoing through the whole school, Blaze rose out of the bench near the front doors, grabbing her backpack and her Battle Royale book with her and started walking to her English class when she spotted Tikal in the front office, holding a clipboard along with a pen her hands. Curious on what she's doing, Blaze decided to walk towards Tikal and patted her head to get her attention.

"Good morning, Tikal." Blaze greeted Tikal.

"Oh! Blaze! Good morning to you too." Tikal replied back to her older classmate. "What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you that question. What are you doing at the front office?"

"Uh... I was... Well... I'm signing up for Homecoming Idol." Tikal nervously answered, showing Blaze the clipboard that has the names of the students who signed up, which now included her name on the list.

"Really? I didn't expect you to sign up." Blaze commented. "Why did you sign up for Homecoming Idol?"

_Because I love to sing. _Is what Tikal could have replied to Blaze, but she didn't as she doesn't know if Blaze would believe she could have an amazing voice.

Instead, Tikal answered, "I signed up... because no freshman has ever been Homecoming Idol and I thought I could try."

"Does anyone else know you've signed up for Homecoming-"

"No. Not yet." Tikal answered before Blaze finished her sentence.

_Expect Takeshi-san. _Tikal commented in her thoughts before placing the clipboard back to the counter.

"How come?" Blaze questioned the orange-haired freshman.

"Um... I-"

But before Tikal can come up with an answer to Blaze, Silver and Espio rushed inside the school building, only for the two to end up slipping on a wet floor and suddenly crashed into the two girls, falling flat into the tiled floor. Silver quickly got up back to his feet after the sudden crash, and his golden eyes widen when he spotted Blaze on the floor, rubbing her forehead.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry, Blaze! I didn't mean to crash into you like this!" Silver apologized to Blaze. "Honest! Espio woke up late and we ended up in traffic, taking us longer than usual to get here, and then..."

"Okay, I get it." Blaze told Silver, getting back on her feet while wiping some dust from her magenta shirt. "And if you ask if I'm injured, no I am not."

"Thank god." Silver sighed. "So, are you walking to English class?"

"Yes. The first bell already ringed and we have about ten minutes right now to get there."

"Oh, then can I walk with you to English?"

"Uh... sure." Blaze nodded her head with Silver joining her walk to English. But before she can start walking, she added, "But isn't your friend joining us?"

Silver turned to Espio, who's currently helping Tikal up off the floor, and shouted to him, "Hey, Espio! Are you coming with us to English?"

Espio shook his head no and replied back to Silver with, "No thanks, Venice. You and Barbara can go ahead. I'll be there before 1st period starts."

Silver nodded his head to Espio before leaving the front doors and into the main hallways with two staircases filled with some students either sitting in the steps with their friends or walking up to their classes for today. The two quickly walked to the stairs, with Blaze holding onto the rail, and ended up in the second floor in less than fifteen seconds. While the two continued to walk to the hallways filled with students, Blaze cleared her throat and brushed off some loose strands of her lavender hair out of her shoulder before turning her head to Silver's side and started a conversation with him.

"So, why are you walking with me in the first place?" Blaze wondered.

"Well, I thought I can talk to you about our project." Silver replied to his partner.

"And what about it?"

"We did talk about Battle Royale yesterday, but we didn't start on our questions that we're required to answer. So I was thinking..."

"Yes?"

Silver took in a few deep breaths before telling Blaze his answer. He thought about this ever since yesterday and never got the chance to ask her this: invite her to the Chaotix Orphanage. He really wanted to do this so Blaze might get to know him a bit well, along with Espio and meet some of the orphans. Not to mention he needed some way to get together to work on the project.

However, Silver didn't manage to ask Blaze when Sonic suddenly leaped behind him while yelling, "Good morning Vennie!"

"Holy-"

CRASH!

The two sophomores fell straight flat onto the floor, with Silver's face almost touching the floor, and Silver struggled to get up with Sonic lying on his back. He knew Sonic gives out a surprise hug to all of his friends, including Amy, whenever it's Friday, usually on the mornings. Silver doesn't mind the hugs at times, but it does get annoying when he always lands on the floor no matter what.

"Vennie, where the heck were you this morning?" Sonic asked, still hugging his white-haired friend.

"I'll answer if you get off of me!" Silver told his spiky haired friend.

Sonic simply released Silver from his hug and the two got back up to the floor, with Sonic picking up his backpack near some rows of lockers.

"Sorry, buddy." Sonic apologized to Silver in his humorous tone, laughing. Shortly after he ended his laugh, Sonic spotted Blaze who's giving him a confused look on what's currently going on. He ended up walking towards Blaze and ended up greeting her, "Hey, Blaze! How are you doing today?"

Blaze didn't know how to respond to Sonic. Just two days ago, Sonic ended up scolding her for soaking Silver in milk and didn't like her at first, but now he's greeting her like that event never happened in the first place? Huh?

Brushing off a strand of her lavender hair away from her shoulder, Blaze answered, "Just fine... Uh... Sonic."

"Well that's great to hear! Me, I'm doing amazing!" Sonic exclaimed, jumping off the air for a moment. "Anyway, you're on your way to English with Vennie, right?"

"Yes."

"Cool. Can I join?"

"Yes you can, Sonic." Silver agreed to Sonic's request after getting back with Blaze. "But no surprise hugs to her. Okay?"

"Gotcha, Vennie!" Sonic replied while the three were walking in the hallway to their English class. "Now, tell me what happened this morning?"

"Okay. It involved Espio waking up at 7:57, and-"

Silver didn't manage to finish his sentence when Sonic started to burst out laughing loudly in the hallway, eventually falling to the floor and laughing harder than a few seconds ago. Some of the students walked passed by Sonic as they knew Sonic has a tendency to laugh very hard that he sometimes falls to the floor laughing and rolling.

"Sonic!" Silver yelled to his blue-haired friend. "Stop laughing!"

"I... I can't, Vennie!" Sonic managed to say while laughing. "It's hard to imagine Espio waking up at that time!"

Sighing, Silver continued his story. "Anyway, Espio woke up late and he hastily started the car, almost crashing into a mini-van."

Sonic ceased his laughter when he heard the words 'crashing' and 'hastily' all in the same sentence. Espio almost running over a car in the morning? That doesn't sound like Espio at all! Sonic went back on his feet again once more before continuing walking with Silver and Blaze.

"My god, that's horrible!" Sonic commented.

"Yeah. And when I told Espio we should let someone else take us to school since he woke up a few minutes ago, he yelled at me in the loudest voice I've heard from him."

"Yikes."

"Indeed. And if that wasn't enough, we were stuck on traffic for about ten minutes and then stopped on-"

"The stoplight that stays on the red light for six minutes?" Blaze guessed, knowing this since her dad stopped on one of those lights before.

"Uh... yes. That's pretty much what happened. Harsh morning, right?"

"Yes." both Sonic and Blaze agreed, with the former walking backwards.

"But you'll be okay for today?" asked Blaze.

"I'll be fine! I've handled mornings worse than this." Silver answered in a calm voice.

"Good to hear that."

"Sweet!" Sonic cheered, jumping high in the air, bumping his head in the ceiling, cheerfully muttering, "Ow. Didn't see that coming."

Both Silver and Blaze ended up laughing at Sonic's blunder that they banged their fist on the lockers to prevent themselves from falling into the floor like Sonic did moments ago. Well, that certainly made Silver forget about his morning for a moment.

BRIIINGG!

The second bell. That means...

"Guys, five minutes til 1st Period starts." Blaze reminded the two boys.

Silver stopped his laughter while Sonic got up from the floor for the third time this morning, and ended up running in the hallways. Luckily, they were close to Ms. Robinson's classroom and Sonic dashed from the middle of the hallways and to the classroom, followed by Blaze, halting her sprint by letting her black heels screech on the floor and finally Silver, panting hard from his intense run and ended up falling to the ground.

"God... Blaze... How do... you run... in... heels?" Silver questioned Blaze, taking a seat next to the front door.

"Yeah, I'd like to know too!" Sonic said, taking a seat behind Silver. "I'd never seen a girl run that fast in heels before! Tell me!"

Nobody asked Blaze this question before. Blaze has been running in heels ever since her mother gave Blaze her first high heels (about two inches) as a birthday gift on her 10th birthday, and once her mother said to walk in them, Blaze instead sprinted the whole house in them. And did she gain any red marks while running in heels? Not even one. She did ran in sneakers, boots and flats while gaining at least one red mark, but zero with heels.

How Blaze answered the two boy's question? This:

"I know how to run in all types of shoes. Including high heels. And to be honest, I gain only one or zero red marks on my feet."

Both Silver and Sonic remained speechless on what Blaze has answered. Running in all types of shoes with little to no marks on her feet. That's enough for Sonic to mutter, "Damn." to himself in a volume that Ms. Robinson can't hear.

Silver ended up breaking the silence by commenting, "That's amazing! I know Amy and Rouge can run in tennis shoes, flats and boots, but not heels. Yet you're the first girl I know who can run in high heels and not complain about it! And again, it's amazing!"

"Thanks, Silver." Blaze said to Silver.

"No problem. Oh, and I wanted to ask you something before Sonic interrupted us earlier."

"Are you asking her out on a date?" Sonic guessed, trying to hold his laughter.

"No!" Silver told his friend. "Why would you think about that?!"

"Oh, nothing Vennie. Nothing." said Sonic before bursting out laughing about what he said earlier on Silver asking out Blaze and lying on the floor once again.

Ignoring Sonic's laughter, Silver continued his conversation with Blaze. "Um... As I was saying, I was just wondering if you would... I don't know... work on the-"

"Hey, Silver!"

Great. Interrupted once again from asking Blaze to his place. Silver turned around to see who called him, and spotted Jet and Wave standing near his desk, with Jet holding a copy of The Kite Runner in his hands.

"Oh, hey guys." Silver greeted Jet and Wave. "What's up?"

"Nothing much," Jet replied to Silver. "Is Espio here?"

"No. He told me he'll be here before 1st Period starts. Why are you asking me that?"

"Well, can you tell him that he not only has today off but tomorrow off as well?" Wave requested.

"How come? I thought he has work tomorrow."

"He did, but Scourge ended up taking his shift for tomorrow. The shift that lasts from noon to closing time."

"But Espio told me Scourge had no work for-"

Silver stopped talking when Wave held her red orb necklace and opened it up to reveal the schedule for all employees of Asia Diamond. And Silver can guess that Wave hacked into Asia Diamond's computer just to change the schedule.

"Espio can thank me later at the Chaotix Orphanage after school." Wave commented, taking her usual seat.

"What do you mean by that?" questioned Silver, twisting his head to the left.

"She means we're going to your place after school to work on the book report." Jet answered to Silver, with the former staring at Sonic still laughing on the floor. "And Sonic, why are you on the floor laughing again?!"

Sonic quickly got up from the floor and wiped a tiny tear from his eyes before answering to Jet, "Oh. Silver..." but Sonic paused when he spotted Silver placing his index finger over his mouth, telling Sonic that he shouldn't mention his earlier comment on Silver asking Blaze. He gave his friend a thumbs-up before continuing. "...Silver told me yesterday that Vector sang 'Highway to Hell' so terribly that it broke one of the windows next door! Just thinking about it still makes me laugh!"

_Nice save, Sonic. _Silver sighed.

What Sonic told Jet was actually true. Silver remembered on Wednesday that Vector singed 'Highway to Hell' while washing the dishes, it almost not only the windows next door break but one of the dishes to break! He had to wear his headphones while listening to his iPod on max volume just to avoid Vector's singing!

Shaking the thought of Vector singing, Silver looked at the clock which reads 8:48 and then turned away from the clock to the front door to see if Espio has entered the room. He did spot Amy and some other students entering the classroom, but no sign of Espio and class starts in two minutes! What could be taking him so long?

He snapped back into reality when Blaze called out to him. "Silver, you said you'd like to ask me something earlier? What is it anyway?"

"Oh, right." said Silver as he sat up straight. "Well, I was wondering that after school, maybe you'd want to work on the project at-"

"Good morning guys!" Amy cheerfully greeted her friends, sitting next to Sonic.

Oh, jeez. When will Silver ask Blaze this question without being interrupted?!

Ignoring 'that' question for a while, Silver replied to Amy, "Oh, good morning, Ames."

"Silver, what happened to you this morning?! You didn't appear at the courtyard at all!"

"Well, Espio woke up late for the first time..." Silver told Amy before face-palming himself since he has to tell this story again.

"And traffic problems occurred." both Sonic and Blaze finished Silver's sentence.

"Wow, that's a pretty harsh morning for you." Amy commented, setting her pink backpack on the floor.

"I know, but I got over it quickly."

"Because yours truly made him have a good laugh!" Sonic popped in, pointing to himself.

"Well that's a good thing, Silver. And speaking of Espio, where is he?"

"I don't know. He said that he'll be here before 1st Period begins." Silver sighed, looking at the clock that now reads 8:49.

"You sure? Because 1st Period is going to start in about twenty seconds. And unless he sprints here, he'll receive his first tardy in his whole school career."

Espio always arrived in class on time regardless if the class is far away or he just got out of class really late for some dumb reasons, but this time, Espio might not make it before the bell rings! Ms. Robinson doesn't tolerate tardiness in her class, unless the student gives out a understandable excuse, and he'll receive his first tardy from her! Oh, god... Silver prays that Espio will enter the classroom before...

BRIIINGG!

...The bell rings. Too late.

Ms. Robinson walked out of her desk full of folders and papers and stood in front of the classroom, greeting her students, "Good morning class. I know you're excited about the upcoming weekend. Am I right?"

All the students gave out various cheers such as 'Yeah', 'You bet, Ms. Robinson!' and some other cheers spread out in the classroom.

"Well, I thought about giving you the entire period for-"

But before Ms. Robinson can finish her announcement about her planned agenda to the class, Espio entered the classroom with no tardy slip with him, still carrying a bottle of milk in his hand with him. He gave out a long breath before placing his backpack on front of a desk next to Silver and walked towards Ms. Robinson to explain why he's about a few seconds (seventeen seconds to be exact) late to her class.

"Forgive me for being late to your class Ms. Robinson," Espio started, not caring if the whole class can hear him. "I had to take someone to the computer lab since she doesn't know where it is. I thought I had some time to make it to your class, but it turns out I didn't. So again, I'm sorry for interrupting this class because of me."

Espio was about to walk back to his desk before Ms. Robinson grabbed his hand and told him, "I forgive you. But since this is the first time you've been late to any class Takeshi-san, I won't mark you tardy. Just promise me this won't happen in the future. Okay?"

He nodded his head before walking back to his desk, placing an arm on his chin to prevent it from falling to the desk.

"Now, as I was saying, you'll have the entire period to work on your English project. It'll give you time to answer some of the sixteen questions from the rubric." Ms. Robinson announced. "And I want to hear conversations about your book, not your plans about your weekends."

After Ms. Robinson finished her announcement, people started to move their desks around, sounds of books being placed into the desks, along with the chatter about their assigned books, and already the sounds of pens or pencils scribbling on a sheet of paper. Sonic ended up moving his desk next to Amy's to avoid being dragged by force by Amy again, while Espio got out of his desk to work with Jet and Wave.

Silver pulled out his copy of Battle Royale out of his backpack, along with a sheet of paper and a mechanical pencil before moving out of his current desk and sat next to Blaze, reading another chapter of Battle Royale.

"Blaze," Silver called his partner to get her attention. "Shall we begin right now?"

"Sure thing," Blaze nodded her head. "Where should we start with?"

"The questions. And we should split the questions in half just to make things easier for us. Would that work for you, Blaze?"

"Uh..."

"What's wrong?" Silver asked, noticing Blaze can't come up with a clear answer. "You don't think that's a good idea?"

"N...No..." Blaze answered in a somewhat nervous tone. "It's just that... I'm used..."

"...To doing things on your own? Am I right?" Silver guessed.

"Yes... How did you know?"

"I know people who are like that."

Those people who's used to doing things on their own: Shadow when it comes to pretty much everything, Knuckles when it involves cooking (the decorating part that is), Amy for an obvious reason (getting Sonic), and Rouge trying to do her school work without being tutored by someone else besides Shadow. Yet they don't mind getting help from others when they needed it the most.

But due to her harsh background, Silver assumed Blaze has **always **did things on her own since Kindergarten, even if things needed to be done with a partner or a group. Suggesting the idea of separating the questions might sound like a horrible idea to Blaze since she thinks Silver won't do the project and let her do all of the work, but Silver is thinking the reverse in reality. He's always committed when it comes to projects; no matter who he works with!

Espio? No problem.

Sonic? Besides him constantly using the annoying nickname, they can work well.

Tails? Simple, though he's very picky with every detail.** Every**.** Detail**.

Knuckles? With anything History related, it's going to be easy. But on Science, Silver will tutor him on some parts.

Amy? Surprisingly committed with anyone.

The list can go on for hours, and even then, Silver is willing to work with anyone most of the time regardless. Why most of the time? The exceptions are Sally and Mina since those two will force their partner to **ALL** of their work for them.

Still going on with the suggestion on splitting the questions in half, Silver draw some stars on some of the numbered questions on the rubric and handed the sheet to Blaze.

"Why did you drew stars on some of the questions?" asked Blaze, looking at the rubric all weirdly.

"That's the questions you'll be answering." Silver explained, pointing to the stars on the rubric. "The ones that aren't marked will be the ones I'll be answering. And of course, we'll answer eight questions each."

"Um... I'm not sure if it'll work out."

"Of course it will! I always split the work when working in groups."

Blaze gave an "I don't believe you" look to Silver after he told her it'll work out fine for him.

He ignored the look and said, "Just trust me. I know it'll work."

"You 100% sure?" Blaze questioned Silver once again.

"Not 100% sure, but 110% sure. I promise."

"Well... Since you're positive about this idea, I guess I'll agree to it."

"Yea!" Silver silently cheered to himself. "And I have one more thing to ask you before I get interrupted by someone else."

"And that's..."

"Do you think you can come to the Chaotix Orphanage after school to work on our project?"

_Finally, I asked her that question!_ Silver happily shouted in his mind.

"I don't know."

And this is the answer he gets. Great.

"I have no idea where the Chaotix Orphanage is, and I'm not sure if my dad will take me there." Blaze added.

"Oh, don't worry! Espio will take us after school," Silver reassured Blaze. "He wouldn't mind it at all if I just ask him."

Now all Silver hopes is that Blaze will say yes to this.

"So, will you go to the Orphanage after school?" Silver repeated the question, though asked differently.

Tapping her hands on the desk a few times, Blaze answered to her partner, "Sure."

_Alright!_ Silver cheered to himself.

"Where will we meet?" Blaze also added.

"Um... at the front of the school. Espio will be driving in a black Toyota by the time we exit out of class." Silver informed Blaze. "Sounds good to you?"

Blaze nodded her head in agreement before opening her book to the chapter she's currently on. Silver sighed in relief that he finally got that question out of the way early today and can't wait til 4:05 arrives. It'll be-

"Hey Vennie!" Sonic slightly yelled to Silver behind him, dropping his Battle Royale book on the floor.

Picking up the book off the floor, Silver asked his friend, "Sonic, what the heck was that for?!"

"Sorry, Vennie. We can't help but overhear your conversation with Blaze."

"What do you mean by that Sonic?"

"I also heard it as well!" Amy happily said, now sitting on a desk next to Silver.

"Guys, that was a private conversation." Silver told his two green-eyed friends.

"And what are you two doing here anyway?" Blaze popped into the conversation, asking Silver's friends. "Shouldn't you two be working on your project?"

"We made good progress on our project, and we thought we should take a break and talk to you guys. Or to be more specific, Sonic wants to talk to you." Amy told Blaze in a casual tone.

"About what?"

"If I can come with you guys right after school. Is that cool with you, Vennie?" Sonic asked his friend.

_No way, Sonic!_ Is what Silver thought of answering to Sonic, but knowing that Sonic tends to have nothing to do during the weekends besides running around the neighborhood and the park, he instead answered to Sonic, "Sure. And Amy can come if she likes to."

"Alright! Thanks, Vennie!" Sonic silently cheered to himself to avoid being stared by his classmates. "Ames, you want to go?"

"I wish, but I'm going to spend the day with Cream right after school." Amy told her blue-haired crush.

"That's cool. Does Blaze mind it that I-"

"Not at all." Blaze answered before Sonic can finish his sentence.

"Yes! I can't wait 'til school ends!" Sonic accidentally shouted in the classroom that everyone turned their heads towards him. This is the fourth time he pulled this stunt this school year. Seeing all eyes on him, Sonic added, "Sorry, guys!" before the whole class started to burst out laughing after seeing Sonic's blunder.

Or second blunder for Silver and Blaze. Shortly after the class started laughing, Sonic himself ended up laughing at his own blunder, falling to the floor for the fifth time today. And it's not even the afternoon. However, Sonic wasn't alone laughing on the floor. Amy somehow laughed so hard after seeing her crush falling on the floor, that she fell to the floor as well, banging her fist on the floor while crying out:

"Sonic! You're so cute when you're laughing on the floor!"

Hearing this comment made Silver laugh a little harder than before once he saw Sonic cease his laughter and his face blushing bright crimson.

"S... Sorry about that Sonic!" Amy apologized to Sonic before getting up from the floor, returning back to her desk, and reading the next chapter of her book.

Sonic didn't say anything, but he did gave out a small smile to Amy when he returned to his desk. He also gave out a thumbs-up to Silver and Blaze, telling them that he can't wait 'til school ends. And judging from Silver replying back with a thumbs-up as well and spotting Blaze giving out a small but pleasant smile, they can't wait for school to end as well.

* * *

**Author's Note: FINALLY! It took at least six days just to write this, but at least it's finished! Yea! Now, what's going to happen in the Chaotix Orphanage after school? You'll have to wait for the tenth chapter to appear!**

**And speaking of Chaotix, I'm going to do Vector's name (first and last) since it's been a while since he appeared. His first name is Latin for "carrier"; carrying all the responsibility of taking care of the orphans. His last name, Maher, is Irish for "kindly" or "generous"; generous to give Silver, Espio, Charmy, Marine and the other orphans a home when they don't have one and is kind to everyone if he's not provoked.**

**And wow, I've gotten over 2,000 views and almost 50 reviews in less than a month! I didn't expect my first fan-fic to have that many hits!**

**If you like this Chapter, don't forget to leave a review! Bye! ;D**


	10. Let the Chaos Begin

~After School (4:05 P.M)~

Silver, Blaze and Sonic were sitting on the steps on the stairs outside while waiting for Espio's car to arrive at the front of the school. Usually, Espio's car would be here right when Silver leaves from World History, but it's not here today. Maybe Espio had to stay after Art class to clean some of the art supplies like he always does every Friday since the 6th Grade. That could be the reason why Espio isn't here yet.

While waiting, Sonic listened to his iPod, in max volume, and singed loudly to the song he's currently listening to.

"_Rolling around at the speed of sound. Got places to go, gotta follow my rainbow! Can't stick around have to keep moving on. Guess what lies ahead, only one way to find out!" _Sonic singed the lyrics to his favorite song.

"Sonic, can you keep it down for a bit?" Silver requested, somewhat annoyed at his friend's singing. It's not that he doesn't like Sonic's singing, but the fact that Sonic sings this certain song over a thousand times, a thousand and one today, is getting onto his nerves.

"Aw, but it's my-"

"Favorite song to sing to, I know that." Silver finished Sonic's sentence. "And I've already heard you sing that song multiple times."

"Well then, I guess I'll have to change the song."

True to his words, the song Sonic was listening to transformed into a upbeat rock song, humming and tapping his feet to the rhythm of the music. Finally, Silver doesn't have to hear Sonic sing for now! Silver turned his head to see Blaze, ignoring Sonic's humming, reading a few pages of Battle Royale. And by the looks on where she's reading, she's almost done with part two of the story, not to mention she's about half done with the book! Silver just recently started on part two and hasn't gone to the part where the two girls were being shot by the ruthless Kazou Kiriyama with a machine gun! God, that's a lot of pages Blaze has read despite it being her first time reading this controversial book.

Silver, who's sitting next to Blaze, couldn't help himself but ask her, "How do you read that fast, Blaze?"

"I simply read whenever I can." Blaze answered, not taking her eyes off the book.

"Wow. You must have loads of free time." Silver commented.

"I do. And I finish a book in about four days or so. Depends if the book is interesting to me."

"Dang. It takes me either a week or even four months just to finish a book! That's really-"

"I DON'T WANNA GO, DAMN IT!" a nearby voice shouted to someone.

Blaze, Silver and Sonic stopped on what they were doing and turned around to see who's yelling. They shortly spotted Knuckles currently on the ground, being dragged by Rouge who isn't listening to Knuckles' demands, followed by Tikal, looking at her brother with a worried look pasted on her face while walking with the two. Rouge ceased her dragging near where Blaze's heels are, and looked at the three sophomores sitting at the steps.

"Why, hi there darlings," Rouge greeted the three.

"Hey, Rouge!" Sonic and Silver replied back, with the former snickering to Knuckles.

"Rouge, how come you're dragging Knuckles on the floor?" Blaze asked, closing her book and returning it to her backpack.

"Oh, it's just that Knucklehead has lost a bet to yours truly yesterday at Asia Diamond." Rouge told the three in a casual tone like it's no big deal.

Silver laughed to himself when he remembered Espio telling him during Journalism II about an eating contest that involved Knuckles and Rouge yesterday. During the contest, Knuckles fell out of his chair after leaning too close to the table, falling down to the floor, and once he gotten back up, Rouge ended up scarfing down the last of her pancit from her plate, making her the victor. And now, Knuckles has to watch ALL of her photo shoots until October 19th. How great... Not.

"Eating contest, Knuckles?" Sonic guessed, which Knuckles responding back to Sonic with a simple nod. "Sucks to be you."

"Ha ha, Sonic. Very funny." said Knuckles, getting off from the ground. "I just fell from my chair. If I didn't, I'd won the bet and not see Rouge wearing make-up for a whole month!"

"Are you sure you didn't let her-"

"NO I DID NOT LET HER WIN, GOD DAMN IT!" Knuckles yelled to his friend who's now laughing on the ground. Again. God, when is he going to stop doing that?

"Yeah... Ha ha ha ha! Right! Knucklehead! Ha ha ha ha!"

"QUIT LAUGHING!"

"Oh, let Sonic laugh, Knucklehead," Rouge told the red-haired teen. "You did let me win. If you didn't fall out of your chair, I'd be horrified to not have make-up on for a whole month!"

"I DIDN'T LET YOU WIN, BATGIRL!" Knuckles shouted to Rouge up to her face.

"Yes you did!"

"Nu-uh I didn't!"

"Yes you did!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

While Knuckles and Rouge were arguing about the bet from last night, Tikal ended up sitting on the steps of the stairs next to Blaze who's currently pulling her iPod out of her backpack and started to insert her black headphones in her ears. Blaze decided to pull out one of her earphones from her left ear and handed one for Tikal to listen to the song she's about to choose.

"You want to listen?" Blaze asked Tikal.

"Sure." Tikal nodded her head, putting the earphone on her left ear. "So, what are you doing here Blaze?"

"I'm waiting for Silver's friend to pick us up. I'm going to the Chaotix Orphanage with Silver to work on our English project."

"But what about Sonic?" Tikal pointed to the laughing blue-haired teen on the floor.

"He's coming with us." Blaze answered, finally playing one of her favorite songs.

"I see."

"And what about you? Aren't you going with your brother?"

"No," Tikal shook her head side to side. "Kennith said he has to go to Rouge's photo shoot by himself as part of 'that'," Tikal putting air quotes on 'that' (A.K.A. The bet), "and he told me to stay at the Chaotix Orphanage since my father is working overtime at the hospital."

"That's understandable. But I do feel bad for your brother for going to the photo shoot with Rouge with none of his friends."

And speaking of Knuckles, he walked towards Tikal with his black Sony Ericsson flip-phone, putting the cellphone in Tikal's hands. Sure, Tikal owns a cellphone, but she doesn't use it a lot or brings it to school like everybody else in school and often leaves it at home. Knuckles knows Tikal's tendencies of leaving her phone at home, so whenever Tikal goes without her brother, he always hands his phone to her so she can call home, or in this case, call Rouge.

"Rouge told me her photo shoot is going to last 'til nine or ten in the evening," Knuckles informed to his little sister, "so call me between those times. You got that, Tikal?"

"Yes, Kennith." Tikal nodded her head.

"Good." Knuckles sighed in relief before he turned to Blaze, now tapping her heels to the rhythm of the song that's currently playing. "And Blaze, are you going to the Chaotix Orph-"

"Yes I am." Blaze answered to Knuckles before he finished his sentence. "Along with Sonic."

"That's good to hear."

Knuckles then turned back to Rouge after Blaze answered his question. He didn't ask Sonic the same question to Blaze since he trusted Sonic to be around Tikal, along with Silver (duh), Tails, Shadow, and Espio. Mainly Espio since he's well disciplined and treats Tikal with respect.

BEEP! BEEP!

And speaking of which, Espio's black Toyota appeared in front of the school after waiting for about three to five minutes. Silver was about to walk towards the car until he was almost shoved down by Sonic, now off the ground from his laughing, and entered the car while yelling, "The window seat is mine!"

"We get it, Sonic!" Silver yelled to Sonic, knowing that he always sits near the window in the car no matter what.

"Yeah, you don't have to yell what seat you take, Blue Blur!" a new voice inside the car added, using one of the blue-haired teen's nicknames. The first being, obviously, 'Sonic', and now 'Blue Blur' since he sometimes leaves blue streaks when he's running at an incredible speed.

Knowing the voice belongs to Jet Hawkins, Knuckles shoved his head in the windows and spotted Jet sitting in the far back seat along with Wave.

_ Oh, god. Not again. _Silver thought as Knuckles is going to big brother mode right now. Again.

"What the hell are you doing here, parrot?!" Knuckles viciously asked Jet, not flinching to the red-haired teen's question.

"Uh... Going to the Chaotix Orphanage, Knucklehead. Duh." Jet replied, sticking his tongue to Knuckles.

"Why? So you can flirt with my sister when I'm not around?!"

"No way! I would never do that! Wave and I are going to the Chaotix Orphanage to work on our English project with Espio."

"Like I would believe that, parrot!"

"Really! I have interest in another girl, and that girl isn't your sister!" Jet told Knuckles, ready to pull out one of his paper fans from his backpack.

"You sure?" Knuckles isn't buying Jet's reply, despite the fact that it is true.

"Yes I'm sure! If you want, I can tell you the girl I currently have my-"

Jet didn't finish his sentence when Sonic popped in between Knuckles and Jet, with the former having his head pushed away by Sonic. The blue-haired teen can practically see Wave's face blushing bright red, turning her head to the window to avoid Jet seeing her face like this. God, Wave knew Jet was going to say her name since he's very close to her. VERY.

"Like Jet mentioned, Knux, you don't have to worry about that." Sonic reassured his short-tempered friend. "And the same thing goes for the 'older' orphans in there as well."

What did Sonic mean by 'older' orphans? Silver and Espio are fifteen and sixteen respectively, making them the oldest orphans in the Chaotix Orphanage, but they aren't the only teens in the Orphanage. Male teens attending Middle School (ages 11-14). That's what Sonic means by 'older' orphans. No female teens living in the orphanage since the oldest female is Marine, standing at only nine years old.

"Are you-" Knuckles started to question Sonic.

"Yes, we are sure." Silver answered to Knuckles, now opening the front of the car. "Just go with your photo shoot with Rouge and try to make the best out of it. Okay?"

After quick thinking on what Silver has said to him, Knuckles answered, "Alright," before giving Tikal a quick kiss on the cheek like he always does whenever he leaves Tikal alone.

"You ready to go?" Rouge asked Knuckles as they were walking away from Espio's car.

"Yeah, and you're not dragging me, bat girl." Knuckles told the white-haired model. And that was the last bit Blaze and Tikal can hear from these two before they entered the passenger seats in the middle.

With Tikal taking a seat in the middle and Blaze in the right window seat, Espio hit the gas pedal and left the school in about thirty seconds. During the first few minutes of the car ride, silence filled the car besides the music that's currently playing. Silver can tell the song is in Japanese since it's Espio's favorite music genre, second being rock. The singer is singing the lyrics in Japanese, but Silver can easily tell what the lyrics means in English since he heard this song about one hundred and sixty-two times. Yeah, he somehow kept track of the times this song is played in this car or in their room.

_On that day, my heart crumbled in silence_

_Even though I scream at being broken, inerasable memories and_

_Darkness flow into my eyes_

_And I sink into tomorrow whose colors can't even be seen anymore_

_I searched endlessly for the day of reconciliation_

_Only for the sake of losing it, I will live for the present_

_ "Even when it is useless and I embrace solitude alone, if you turn on the lights..." _Tikal silently singed to herself, hoping nobody would...

"Uh, do I hear somebody singing in this car?" Jet asked.

Hear her. Crap. She might as well tell-

"_I will shine towards them!" _Sonic singed out loud in the car.

"Sonic!"

"Sorry, Jet! That's one of my favorite songs as well."

_ Thank you, Sonic. _Tikal sighed. She's lucky that Sonic's voice is much louder than her's. Otherwise, people will assume it's her. Wave is reading The Kite Runner, without getting dizzy at some point, and Blaze is listening to her iPod, along with Tikal who still has her ear phones on her, and oddly, it's playing the same song as the one in Espio's mix CD! How weird.

"And can you please try to sing silently to yourself?" Jet requested to Sonic.

"But what's the fun of singing to yourself when no one can hear you?" Sonic commented. "I mean, come on! It's awesome!"

"For you, that is."

"Well, how about you try singing this song?" Sonic suggested to Jet.

"No way."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?" Sonic begged Jet, with his emerald green eyes sparkling and growing wide. God, these can even beat Cream's puppy dog eyes by a landslide.

"Hell no." Jet refused, ignoring Sonic's puppy dog eyes.

Darn. That was Sonic's best puppy dog eyes he's done in years.

"Sonic, don't force Jet to sing if he doesn't want to." Silver told Sonic. "Okay?"

"Fine, Vennie." Sonic sighed in defeat, slightly sliding down on his seat.

"Thank god," Jet muttered under his breath, thankful he doesn't have to sing in this car. In front of Wave. And Sonic. That would've been embarrassing.

Shortly after Sonic's and Jet's argument, the car went into a sudden halt from the cursed stoplight again, which made Espio knock his head into the steering wheel a few times, not enough to trigger the horn of course. How. Much. He. Hates. That. Damn. Stoplight!

"Just great. Just freakin' great!" Espio grumbled, slamming his fist onto the steering wheel, which didn't trigger the horn luckily. "When will anyone figure out this stoplight needs to be majorly fixed?!"

"Years." everybody in the car answered.

"Or never if people keep ignoring that stoplight." Wave added, not taking her eyes from her book.

After making that comment, Wave hears her cell phone vibrating from her front pocket, and sighed as she wondered who's calling her? Might be her dad, who's calling her about their plans for the weekend. Maybe it's Jet's friend, Storm Albertson, calling from The University of California San Diego (or UCSD for short) and telling the two they should visit sometime this weekend. Or maybe it's her mother trying to plan a mother-daughter day for tomorrow. Anything but the last one! Why?

Most of the activities Wave's mother would plan out are just... Something that Cream and Vanilla would enjoy. Like going shopping for pretty clothes at the mall, taking a walk in a beautiful garden, making cakes or jewelry, Wave **loathed** those activities as they're too girly for her taste. She prefers to be riding her Extreme Gear with her dad and Jet in the park or help her dad with his engineering job than spend the whole day with her mom for a good reason. A real good reason that changed her life forever.

Luckily, it wasn't her mother calling Wave, but on her screen, it reads Jet Hawkins. Odd, Jet is here with her in the car. Unless it was...

_Oh, it's HIM._ Wave groaned in her thoughts.

Wave quickly pressed the call button on her phone, and put the call on speaker to hear two people trying hard not to laugh. Hearing the laughs being so familiar to Jet, Wave handed her phone to Jet and started to yell, "BEAN YOU ANNOYING BRAT! YOU STOLE MY PHONE?!"

_"Hey there, Kuya Jet!" _Bean greeted his brother using the Tagalog term for older brother (since Jet's family is Filipino) before Bean started to laugh. _"What's up?"_

"Benjamin Hawkins," Jet started to growl using his younger brother's real name, "you better answer my question right now or I'm going to-"

_"Alright! I stole your phone. Happy?" _Bean groaned, knowing his older brother is going to threaten him again.

"Why?"

_ "Almost everyone in my class has a cell-phone, and since you have an awesome Galaxy phone mommy and daddy gave to you on your birthday seven months ago, I thought I would borrow it-"_

"WITHOUT MY PERMISSION?!" Jet yelled louder than before, with everyone covering their ears, minus Wave since she's used to Jet's loud voice.

_"Forgive me! I'm sorry! Sorry sorry sorry sorry!"_

"Fine. Since this is the first-"

But before Jet can accept his little brother's apology, he heard a crashing noise in the background with someone screaming, "Oh my god! Why?!"

Noticing that voice, Espio asked Jet, "Can I use the phone, please?"

He tossed the phone to Espio, which he caught with relative ease and started the call in calm yet firm voice. "Charlie Blythe, what are you doing right now?"

_"Uh... Nothing." _Charmy lied to his older brother figure.

"Are you sure? It sounds like you broke-"

_"Okay! I broke a few plates since Bean dared me to balance plates on sticks!" _Charmy cried on the phone.

"Charlie, what did I say about doing Benjamin's dares?"

Espio knew Charmy and Bean are classmates in school since the 1st grade, and the two ended up being very good friends. However, Bean seems to be a bad influence towards Charmy due to his immature and hyperactive nature, and the two always cause mischief whenever they're together. Whether it's pulling pranks on Vector, annoying Jet and Wave by singing a song about them (that old kiddish song about k-i-s-s-i-n-g on a tree) or stealing their belongings, or causing mayhem in the Chaotix Orphanage, these two spell trouble everywhere.

_"Don't take on stupid dares?"_ Charmy guessed.

"And when I mean 'stupid', I mean all of his dares." Espio told Charmy. "You should know better that this dare is stupid and you'll end up damaging something."

_"Well, I'm-"_

"I'm not going to forgive you that easily once I arrive at the orphanage." Espio scolded Charmy.

"And the same goes for you too, Bean!" Jet added, his voice clear and loud, though not loud like the last time.

"Got it?" both Espio and Jet told the two impish eight-year old boys.

_"Yes, Espio." _both Charmy and Bean said, ending their call.

With the call finally done, Espio tossed the phone to Wave, where she caught it and returned her phone in her pocket before continuing reading The Kite Runner. And just when the call ended, the light finally turned green and Espio pressed the gas pedal, quickly going 50 miles in about ten seconds. After the car went to a smooth speed of 40 miles in about a minute, Blaze sighed very deeply, enough for Silver to turn his since he knew something is wrong with Blaze. Maybe it's about her decision about going to the Chaotix Orphanage seems like a bad idea to her after hearing about Charmy's dumb antics.

That could be it.

"Blaze, are you okay?" asked Silver.

"Uh... I'm fine." Blaze answered to Silver. "It's about that boy, and I'm..."

"Oh, don't worry about Charmy. He won't bother us after that incident. And besides, you'll love the orphans in there. I promise 110%. Okay?"

"Alright, Silver. I'll take your word on that."

"Good. And did anyone hear someone sing-"

"No! You didn't hear anyone singing!" Tikal squeaked before Silver can finish his question. She just started singing right when the car started to move again after six minutes, and thought no one can hear her soft voice.

After that comment from Tikal, everybody remained silent, with Sonic only muttering, "Awkward." throughout the remainder of the trip, minus the engine and the music coming from the speakers.

* * *

~Chaotix Orphanage (4:30 P.M.)~

With everybody out of the car and in the front door of the Chaotix Orphanage, Silver opened the door and before he can take a step inside the orphanage, Silver ended up being tackled by a group of little orphans, hugging him hard like almost everyday he came back from school, and ended up falling to his knees.

"Hey, guys! I'm back!" Silver greeted the young orphans. "And I've brought some of my friends from school."

"Even Sonic?" one of the orphans asked their older brother figure.

"Heck yeah!" Sonic called out before being hugged by ten boys before falling straight into his back while laughing and greeting them, "Did ya guys miss me?!"

"Yes!" the boys cheered.

"Aw, that's good to hear from you guys. Now how about giving a hug to your Kuya Jet?"

"Okay!"

"Wha..?!" Jet exclaimed, almost wanting to kill Sonic for this.

Half of the boys released Sonic from their hugs and ended up tackling Jet, almost making the green-haired teen lose his balance. Jet should have gotten used to this since he's a frequent visitor to the orphanage all because he picks up Bean everyday after school in his Extreme Gear, but no. Not the hugging part.

"Hi, Kuya Jet!" the boys greeted Jet in their cheery voices.

"Oh, hey." Jet replied back. "Next time, don't make me lose my balance. I swear, you could have broken a bone in my body."

"Sorry."

Confused on what's going on, Blaze asked Silver, "Is this normal for you?"

"Yeah, completely." Silver answered.

"It happens everyday when we get home from school." Espio added, finished hugging with the orphans.

"Also happens to my friends as well. Like now." Silver pointed out.

Blaze stared at Sonic giving the boys a tickle fight, with one of them tickling Sonic back on his stomach (his weak point), causing him to laugh hard, ceasing his tickling towards them. She also then looked at Tikal already having her hair being braided by some of the girl orphans and oddly putting golden glitter on parts of her hair.

"I see." Blaze commented before turning to Wave. "But what about-"

"Oh, me? I'm waiting for this certain 'girl' to appear." Wave told Blaze, putting air quotes on girl. What did she mean by that?

"Hope you're prepared, Wave." Jet said, now getting up from the floor. "That 'girl's' hugs has the power of a bulldozer."

"I am, short head."

"Wave!"

After giving a short chuckle to herself, Wave peaked her head inside the orphanage and yelled, "Hey, Marine! Your favorite captain is here!"

Marine? Now why does that name sound so familiar to Blaze? Hmmm...

Wait a minute... That's...

_"Marine Ranta is my name if you want to know!"_

She's the girl Blaze saved at the library two days ago!

And speaking of Marine, the nine-year old brunette dashed out of the orphanage and leaped into Wave's arms, catching her without losing her balance at all. Oh, how much Wave loves Marine! She pretty much treats her like the little sister she never had! Playing pirates, teaching her to ride an Extreme Gear board, having Water Balloon fights with Jet and Bean, and so much more Wave can think of. Once Wave caught Marine, she put the brunette down on the floor and patted her head a few times.

"Captain Wave! Boy, am I glad to see you!" Marine exclaimed, her blue eyes all sparkling with excitement.

"Same thing, Marine." Wave commented before sticking her tongue to Jet, which he replied back the same way after proving him wrong about not losing her balance like him. "So, how are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm doing-" but before Marine can start telling her older sister figure about her day, she spotted a girl with lavender hair now down four inches below her shoulders and remembered that's the girl who rescued her at the library two days ago! "No way."

"What is it, Marine?"

"Is that... that... Blaze?!" Marine pointed to Blaze before running towards to the said girl and greeted her, "Hi there! Remember me? Marine Ranta?"

Blaze blinked her eyes a few times before saying, "Yes. I remember you, Marine. And I see you remembered my nickname."

"Nickname?"

"My real name is Barbara Jewel if you wanted to know. But most people call me 'Blaze'." Blaze informed the nine-year old.

"Barbara is a nice name, but Blaze sounds a whole lot cooler if you ask me!"

What? 'Blaze' is a stupid name to her, but Marine thinks that nickname sounds cool to her? No one has ever said that the nickname 'Blaze' is an awesome sounding name to them, and this is the first time anyone had said anything positive about her nickname she decided to stick with for the rest of her life. Blaze smiled to Marine after hearing the positive comment from the nine-year old.

"Thanks, Marine." Blaze replied back.

"No problem mate." Marine exclaimed. "Now, can we go inside?"

"If you say so, Marine." Silver nodded to Marine's question, now getting back to his feet. "Come on, guys. Let's get inside the orphanage."

"Alright!" Sonic cheered as he entered the orphanage quickly, almost knocking down Silver and Espio. Seriously, when is he going to stop doing that?

Once everyone entered the orphanage and took off their shoes (a rule Vector made since he doesn't want anyone dirtying the floor), Jet and Wave ended up placing their backpacks next to the couches before the two, along with Marine, started to look for the mischievous Bean, Sonic plummeting down on the couch and started to read his assigned book, and Silver was about to guide Blaze to his room until Espio, who's holding Tikal's hand, tapped the silver-haired teen's shoulder and he knew Espio is about to tell him something important. He always taps Silver's shoulder before he tells him something.

"What is it, Espio?" Silver asked his friend.

"I hate to ask Venice, but can you and Barbara work downstairs in the living room?" Espio requested Silver.

"How come?"

Not wanting to reveal his real reason to Silver, Espio came up with, "Tikal asked me to help her with her Algebra I notes since she has a test coming up on Tuesday. In private."

"Sure. It's no problem."

"Thanks." Espio said to Silver before going upstairs to his room with Tikal.

After that short conversation with Espio, Silver ad Blaze ended up going walking down the stairs and ended up placing their backpacks on the floor before pulling out their copies of Battle Royale and two sheets of paper on the coffee table. Seeing the two with their knees on the floor, Sonic placed a bookmark on his book before closing it and he ended up sitting on his knees on the floor next to Silver.

"Silver, shouldn't you be working at your room?" Sonic wondered.

"Espio requested that I should be working downstairs since he's tutoring Tikal in private in our room." Silver explained to Sonic.

"I see. And you're about to-"

"Work on our book report? Yes, Sonic." Blaze answered to Sonic before he had a chance to finish his question. " And shouldn't you be working on yours as well?"

"Like I said in English this morning, Ames and I are making good progress on our project, I thought I should take a short break. Besides, the project isn't due until October 5th! We've surprisingly finished about one-fifth of it."

"That's good for you, Sonic." Silver commented. "Now, Blaze and I need to-"

CRASH!

"What was that?" Blaze questioned Silver after hearing that noise, ceasing her on answering her first question.

"Oh, here we go again." Sonic and Silver muttered underneath their breath while face-palming themselves knowing what's happening.

"GIVE US BACK OUR STUFF, BEAN!" yelled Jet, Wave and Marine.

That. Looking like his brother in terms of hair color and eye color, standing at Charmy's height, wearing a green shirt and ripped jeans, Bean ended up running around the house with Charmy; the former holding a white Galaxy phone, Wave's necklace, and Marine's compass necklace in his hands. And of course, the two impish boys were running away from Jet and Wave about taking their items. Jet was going to handle this situation nice and maturely with Bean, but once Charmy snatched Wave's and Marine's necklaces and Bean called his brother "Tanga!", or 'stupid' in English, the chasing started in full rage. Ooh, Jet couldn't wait to get his hands on Bean and rip his head apart for his actions today.

The chasing ended up continuing in the living room, with Marine carrying four pillows from the couch and ended up throwing to the two boys, hitting Charmy every time in the head while Bean easily dodged every pillow Marine threw. Despite that, Charmy didn't even slowed down from the hits and picked up the pillows to throw back at Jet, Wave and Marine, which luckily didn't hit any of them but instead, all of them almost hit Silver, Blaze and Sonic if they didn't dodged on time.

"That was close!" Sonic commented, putting back one of the pillows on the couch.

"Too close to be exact." Silver and Blaze said at the same time, picking up a pillow from the floor.

"Uh guys, it would be nice if you would help us catch these brats!" Jet requested the three, snatching a pillow off the couch before throwing it to Bean, which ended up going to Charmy instead but he didn't slow down. "Damn, did Bean and Charmy ended up eating a sack full of sugar while I wasn't looking?"

"Looks like it." Sonic agreed with Jet. "They might be fast for you, but not for me!"

"What do you mean, Sonic?" Blaze asked Sonic.

Sonic didn't say anything to Blaze when he started to dash in the living room, passed by Marine and Wave while waving hello to them, dodging the pillow throws from Charmy by swiftly dodging to the left and the right while catching one in the air, throwing it to Bean right in the back, making the green-haired boy fall to the ground, along with Charmy who ended up tripping on Bean's legs.

"Got'cha!" Sonic exclaimed, getting a hold of Charmy's and Bean's arms.

But before Sonic can grab the belongings from Bean's hands, the mischievous eight-year old ended up throwing the three items with a surprising good amount of force, and it seems to be aiming for... For the window! Oh god! This can't be good!

"Now try and get them you tangas!" Bean teased everyone in this room, sticking his tongue and pulling his eye to his brother.

"Gladly." Silver simply said to Bean as his hands started to glow aqua blue in front of Blaze.

The three items froze in mid-air as Silver levitated the white Galaxy phone back to Jet in his hands, and returning the red orb necklace and the compass necklace back to Wave and Marine on their necks respectively. Bean face-palmed himself since he forgot that Silver has psychokinesis powers to stop the items from crashing into the windows and he's going to be in **huge **trouble with his brother for not only stealing his phone and his friends belongings but wrecking property at the orphanage (breaking plates).

"Oh, thank you for returning our stuff, Silver mate." Marine thanked her brother figure.

"No problem." Silver replied back before turning to Bean and Charmy, having their arms being held by Jet and Sonic respectively. "Now, I believe these two should be separated for a while. Don't you think?"

"Agreed." Jet and Sonic nodded their heads before the former dragged his little brother upstairs, possibly taking Bean to the guest bedroom.

Seeing Jet and Bean disappearing from everybody's sights as the two walked upstairs, Sonic gave out a small whistle before commenting, "That was some show we put for Blaze! Right, Vennie?"

"Huh?" Silver managed to say before he turned his head to face Blaze, whose amber eyes grew wide after not believing what she has saw.

She wasn't the only one with 'gifts' of god! There were others like her who had different 'gifts'! Sonic with his supersonic speed and Silver possessing psychokinesis! So that means... No way! Blaze couldn't believe it! Out of all people, Blaze never expected Silver or Sonic to have special powers granted from god, and assumes the rest of his friends might have these 'gifts' as well.

Trying to speak after what she has saw, Blaze cleared her dry throat and brushed off a few more strands of her hair off her face and started to speak to Silver. "Did... Did you guys... Have... that... that 'gift' as well?"

"Of course I do!" Silver answered cheerfully. "And so do all of my friends!"

Well that knocks out Blaze's question of Silver's friends having special 'gifts'.

"That's... Oh jeez... I don't know what to say." Blaze sighed. "I thought I was the only one who has that 'gift' from god."

"Well you're wrong, Blaze. Everybody in this room has a different yet unique and amazing 'gift.'"

"Everyone? Including..."

"Yep." Wave nodded her head, now floating in the air with small purple wings at the back of her light green shirt. She loved to fly in the air using her wings since she was about four years old, but prefers to use her Extreme Gear as they're much faster than her wings. "I had wings ever since I was born and I can make them appear with a snap of my fingers. Same thing with Jet and his brother. As for Marine..."

Closing her eyes and clenching her right hand into a fist tightly, she opened up her fist and eyes and ended up forming a water ball out of her hands, tossing it to Sonic's face, who ended up spitting some of the water out of his mouth.

"I have water powers!" Marine cheered. "Isn't that awesome?!"

"Yeah, but next time, don't toss your water balls to me." Sonic told the brunette while shaking his head dry.

"Sorry, mate."

"It's okay."

Amazed at what she's seeing right now, Blaze asked, "You guys are okay with having these 'gifts' from god?"

"Of course!" all four with the 'gifts' answered, with Wave descending down on the floor, wings gone from the back.

"Not a lot of people have them, and having these 'gifts' is the best thing to have in the whole world." Silver added, sitting down at the couch. "People who have these 'gifts' should be happy that they possess them."

Happy? Besides her parents, girl's at her old school mentioned that those who were born with that 'gift' ended up miserable and unloved with no where to go in life after seeing Blaze's fire powers. Blaze thought that was true. But after seeing Silver and the others who had these different 'gifts', that dumb theory ended up being tossed into the trash. They were the opposite on what the theory mentioned: happy and respected with multiple paths in life. This is probably the first time Blaze has ever heard someone mention that people with 'that gift' should be happy, not thinking it's a curse.

"I... I never thought about being 'happy' about my gift." Blaze told Silver.

"What is your 'gift' anyway?" Silver asked Blaze, now off the couch and holding both of Blaze's hands. "You can tell us."

Should she tell them right now? Especially Silver? The guy she just met two days ago yet the first person who will do anything for her after harming her twice? Should she?

After thinking about it in her mind, Blaze was about to open her mouth when all of a sudden, Vector kicked the door open, carrying ten large brown bags full of food in his arms before closing the front door with his feet. Silver sighed and ended up using his powers to levitate half of the bags Vector was carrying before setting the bags near the kitchen door gently, while Marine and Wave ended up taking two bags from Vector with Sonic swiping the rest of the bags from Vector's arms and ended up taking them to the kitchen before Vector can blink his eyes twice.

"Whoa, thanks guys." Vector commented to the four. "I thought I would do that on my own just fine."

"Your welcome, Vector." the four replied back, with Sonic giving a thumbs-up to Vector.

While taking off his black shoes, Vector spotted a girl with lavender hair, who's putting the five bags Silver levitated into the kitchen one by one while returning the pillows back to the couches all on her own. He never seen this girl before. Maybe she's one of Silver's new friends. Silver often brings his friends over here in the weekends, mainly Sonic since he's easily bored in the weekends.

Curious, once Vector finished taking off his shoes off, he asked Silver, "Hey Silver. Who's that?" pointing to the lavender-haired girl.

"Oh, that's my partner, Barbara Jewel, but people call her Blaze." Silver informed his guardian. "She's here so we can work on our English project together."

"Her? You mean the one that soaked you in milk two days ago?"

Why did Vector had to bring that up again? And how did he know about that fact?!

"Vector!" Silver slightly yelled to his guardian who almost laughed.

"Hey! Espio told me all about it two days ago after dinner."

_Oh, that explains it very well. _Silver thought.

"Well, do you want to meet her?" Silver suggested to Vector.

The thirty-two year old guardian nodded his head before he followed Silver and ended up walking towards Blaze, who's currently starting to answer her second question for the book report.

"Hey, Blaze." Silver called to Blaze, now turning her head where she spotted Silver standing next to a tan man with green short hair. "This is my guardian and owner of the Chaotix Orphanage: Vector Maher."

"It's very nice to meet you, Vector." Blaze greeted Vector by shaking his huge and rough hands.

"Nice to meet you too, Blaze!" Vector replied back to Blaze. "So, are you one of Silver's friends?"

"Uh..." Now how is Blaze going to respond to that question?

"Vector, I've just met her two days ago." Silver told Vector, hitting his shoulder with his fist.

"Sorry. I thought you might be his friend." Vector apologized to Blaze.

"It's okay." Blaze said to Vector while writing her answer to her second question. "And by the way, what's with the bags? You seem to be carrying a lot of them when you entered the orphanage. Is it for a special occasion?"

The bags! Oh, right. Vector almost forgot about them for a moment!

"Yeah, what are they for?" Silver wondered as well.

"Oh... They're for..." Vector started before he whispered the whole thing to Silver's ear.

After Vector is done explaining about the bags to Silver, his eyes grew wide in horror and ended up stuffing his face into the pillow, screaming words Blaze and Vector couldn't hear. Why?! Why?! Why?! What did Vector whispered into Silver's ear that's causing him to be like this? The answer:

Cooking. Pizza. With everyone.

Everyone being himself, Sonic, Jet, Wave, Marine (since she wants to know how to make pizza anyway), Espio, Tikal, and Blaze (surprisingly).

_Let's see how this will turn out. _Silver thought as he plummeted down flat to the couch, still covering his face with a pillow after having an already chaotic Friday. And an hour hasn't even passed by. New record.

* * *

**Author's Note: And here marks the first part of Blaze's visit to the Chaotix Orphanage, and things are already starting to get chaotic, haven't they? Now, how will the pizza making go? Good? Horrible? Will there be a food fight involved? You'll have to wait.**

**For names, I'm going with Marine's name since she hasn't made an appearance in a long time. Her first name is a reference to her water powers, while her last name, Ranta, is Finnish for "dweller by the shore; beach", referencing the location where Sonic Rush Adventure took place (Marine's debut).**

** Oh, and if you're curious what 'kuya' (pronounced koo-yah) means, it's a Tagalog term used to title an older brother (or an older male figure). The female term for that would be ate (pronounced ah-teh), A.K.A. older sister. I use these terms a lot at home. And speaking of which, I couldn't decide which character to be Filipino, so I decided Jet for the heck of it (and the fact that I haven't seen any Filipino references in any Sonic fan-fics as far as I know).**

**Here's another question if you can answer it. Out of every character that has appeared so far, who's your favorite and why? And if possible, you can list your favorite line from your favorite character.**

**Before I go, the songs that appeared in order were:**

**"Escape From the City" by Ted Poley and Tony Harnell**

**"Colors of the Heart" by Uverworld**

**And that's about it. I might not be updating for a while due to school starting in about three days from where I live, and I'll be busy with some of my school work (three AP classes and one Pre-AP class). But if you like this chapter, don't forget to review! **


	11. Pizzas, Melodies, and Whipped Cream

~Kitchen (4:50 P.M)~

Putting a white apron over his orange t-shirt and navy blue jeans, Silver tied the back of the apron before removing all of the vegetables from the brown bag on the kitchen counter. Tomatoes, spinach, green and red bell peppers, mushrooms... and oddly, cucumbers and eggplants. Yeah, that's a bunch of vegetables for a pizza; mainly the last two. Mushrooms on a pizza? Normal. Spinach? Sure. Cucumbers and eggplants? Uh... Not your typical pizza topping, but since Vector oddly likes to have those two in a pizza, it's completely normal for Silver. Very normal after spending almost ten years with him.

After setting the vegetables from the bag, Silver turned his head around when the door made a slight creaking sound, and spotted Sonic, Jet, Wave, and Marine entering the kitchen wearing white aprons over their clothes, with Wave currently putting Marine's brown hair into a ponytail.

"I'm so psyched to make pizza! Are you guys psyched as I am?" Sonic exclaimed happily, making a few fist pumps in the air.

"I am!" Marine cheered after Wave put her hair in a ponytail. "I really, really can't wait to make pizza!"

"Me too! And let me tell ya Marine, the last time we made pizza the old-fashioned way, we practically made a wild but tasty mess in this kitchen!"

"Tasty mess?" Marine wondered while hearing Jet and Wave groaning behind her after hearing 'wild but tasty mess' from Sonic.

"Oh, that? You want to know. Well, while I was making the pizza sauce with Tails and Shadow..."

Dear god. Does Sonic have to re-tell this story to Marine? It's bad enough to experience the actual event, but hearing it again?! Horrible.

This is pretty much why Silver wasn't looking forward into making the pizzas. Normally, he doesn't mind making pizzas every month or two with Vector and Espio or his friends for dinner, but not now. Why? Last month, Sonic decided to throw a bowl of pizza sauce to Knuckles' face and in response, he threw pepperoni slices to Sonic, only for the slices to land on Shadow's face. And it pretty much went into a food fight after that. Flour, eggs, tomatoes, mixture of the pizza dough, shredded cheese, and oddly, apples were flying across the kitchen room with everyone taking part of it once they were hit by a random food item. Hell, it even went into a full scale war between Sonic and Jet, flinging piles of eggs and tomatoes towards each other while being assisted by Tails and Wave respectively! The food fight eventually came to a halt when Silver yelled for everyone to stop, using a megaphone with a horn.

And cleaning this mess up was just... ARGHHHHH!

Silver hopes he doesn't get a repeat of last month. That could be so nice.

"...But it was worth it to have that food fight in the end." Sonic concluded white juggling tomatoes with ease.

"Wow." Marine said in amusement. "I wonder if we're going to have a-"

"No, we are not having another food fight!" Silver, Jet and Wave announced before Marine can finish her statement.

"Darn." Sonic and Marine muttered in disappointment, with the former sighing deeply.

"And by the way Silver, where's Vector?" Sonic asked Silver, the former placing the tomatoes back on the counter.

"He's upstairs, getting Espio and Tikal to join us to make pizza with us." Silver answered to Sonic. "He won't take too long. Give him about a minute or two."

"Fine by me."

Blaze, now having her hair tied into a ponytail and wearing an apron over her clothes, entered the kitchen doors, having her head lowered down slightly and muttering something that's suppose to be inaudible to everyone in an annoyed tone before sitting on a three-legged stool. Silver knew what Blaze muttered since he overheard it. Those words:

"I can't believe that I'm wasting my time making pizza instead of working on the book report."

Hearing that Blaze isn't pleased on what she's about to do, Silver walked to where Blaze is and told her, "Don't worry, Blaze. Once we're done creating the pizzas, we'll get back on working on our book report. I promise."

"And the book report isn't due until next month. You'll have plenty of time to work on it with Vennie." Sonic added, now ruffling Silver's hair with his hands.

"Sonic! Don't mess around with my hair!" Silver demanded, getting a hold of Sonic's hands.

"But it's fun to make your hair all messy!" Sonic commented.

"To you, Sonic! But to me, not that enjoyable!" Silver told Sonic after finally having Sonic's hands off of his hair before finally speaking to Blaze again. "Like Sonic mentioned, the book isn't due 'til next month, so you should just relax and have fun with making pizza with all of us. Alright?"

"Alright." Blaze nodded her head in agreement.

It might not be such a bad idea to take a break from the book report. For one, it's Friday, and a lot of people tend to work on their homework on Sundays (or Saturdays for Blaze). Second, she gets to cook with others besides her parents. Cook with people she just met two days ago to be exact, or just yesterday for Jet's and Wave's case. Since it's Blaze's first time cooking without her parents, she wonders how this might turn out. When helping out in the kitchen with her parents, it's always silent, minus the music coming from the radio, with one or two small laughs coming from her mouth whenever somebody screws up. But with people that possess special 'gifts' that are currently in this kitchen, it might be noisy, sure, but maybe Blaze would have more than just one or two laughs.

SLAM!

Vector hastily stormed through the kitchen doors, his eyes wide in terror like he witnessed something horrible and his face covered in a few beads of sweat while taking quick breaths before falling flat on the tiles. Not too long after Vector fell, Silver levitated Vector off the floor and back to his feet. What could cause Vector to storm into the kitchen, panicking all of a sudden?

"Vector, what happened?" Silver asked his guardian.

"I... I... Espio... katana... threat... heplannedtokillmeifI-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Bagalan!" Jet advised Vector, using the Tagalog term for 'slow down'. "None of us can't understand you if you talk that fast."

"Yeah," Silver agreed with Jet. "Now what happened upstairs? And explain it slowly."

Taking a few deep breathes, Vector answered, "I asked Espio if he and Tikal can assist us with making the pizzas for dinner, but before I can finish the offer, he pointed his katana near my throat and threatened me!"

"How?"

"He told me, 'Get the hell out of my room before I lacerate your-' and I knew I had to rush downstairs before he can kill me!"

"Really?" everyone in the kitchen wondered. Whenever Espio threatens somebody using his katana, or a sharp object since he received the katana as a birthday present from Silver last year, he always has a purpose for pulling his sword. "Why?"

"I have no idea why Espio did that!" Vector yelled, now walking towards the fridge to get something.

"A simple 'no' is what Espio should have said instead of that harsh response." Sonic commented.

Ignoring that comment from Sonic, Vector pulled out what he needed from the fridge, which happens to be two bowls wrapped in plastic, and set them on the counter before explaining what they're going to do.

"Alright everyone," Vector started out, "you all know we're making pizza. We're going to create about five to six pizzas for dinner."

"What happened to four pizzas?" Silver questioned his guardian. Usually, they make four instead of the number Vector just mentioned. Why the sudden change of numbers?

"Oh, that. Vanilla is going to be coming over-"

Just as Vector mentioned Vanilla, everybody except Blaze ended up laughing out loud, with Sonic and Jet falling to the floor after laughing incredibly hard that they might have difficulty breathing. They knew Vector invited Vanilla over for dinner simply because Vector has a crush on her for some reason. Maybe it's because of her sweet and proper personality or the way she looks. That's a few reasons why Vector has a crush on Vanilla, but nobody knew, not even Silver or Espio, the real reason why Vector likes Vanilla in the first place. Everybody in this room just knew about Vector's crush...

Except Blaze. She has no idea why everybody ended up laughing like crazy just when he mentioned her English teacher's name.

_Were they laughing about our English teacher coming over for dinner? _Blaze questioned herself, her head twisting to the left in confusion. Maybe if she asked Silver for an explanation, she'll get her answer.

"Uh... What are they laughing about?" Blaze asked Silver who ceased his laughter.

"Vector having a crush on Cream's mom, or our English teacher." Silver explained to Blaze. "Whenever Vanilla comes over, Vector turns from a reliable guardian to a goofy adult in just one second."

"Really?"

"Yeah. And when he tries to ask her out on a date, the results aren't usually pretty."

As in... Vector stumbling on his words, tripping on his own two feet, face turning to the darkest shade of red (if that's even possible) and a thousand of other stuff Silver can think of on top of his head but doesn't feel like it at all. Not to mention the various screw-ups from Vector.

"I don't want to imagine it." Blaze commented under her breath.

"Me neither..." Silver agreed with Blaze, "but I can't shake it off my head! Just thinking about it make me..."

Silver didn't finish his sentence as he started to burst out laughing again after having thoughts of Vector and Vanilla stuck in his mind. He almost fell to the floor, and held on to the edge of the counter to prevent himself from falling to the ground like Sonic and Jet are, with the former now rolling back and forth laughing his butt off.

A minute later, everybody's laughter died out, with the two laughing teens that were on the floor ready to get back on their feet and ready to listen to the remainder of Vector's information before they somewhat rudely interrupted him.

"Anyway, Vanilla, Cream, and a few of her friends are coming over for dinner at about 7:30," Vector added, "so in order for the pizzas to be done on time, I already made the dough for the pizza, which can also be used for the pizza crust. Now..."

A few of Cream's friends? Now why would...

_"... I'm going to spend the day with Cream right after school."_

"AMY IS COMING OVER?!" Sonic randomly blurted out, interrupting Vector once again.

Everybody turned their heads around to Sonic who's covering his mouth with both of his hands while his cheeks are blushing a bright shade of pink. Oh god, he didn't want this to happen at all. Just why?!

"Sorry guys..." Sonic apologized, silently laughing to himself. "Just remembered Amy being with Cream for dinner... and... and... and dear god, I hope it doesn't go horribly wrong..."

"Emphasis on 'hope'." Silver muttered, putting air quotes on hope.

"Can I finish?!" Vector impatiently yelled to the two teens, which they responded with a simple nod. "Okay. As I was saying, once we're finished with the pizzas, as in fully heated and ready to eat for dinner, I have a special surprise for you guys. And it has something to do with the multiple bags full of food I'd carried."

The only things they've pulled out were the toppings going to be used in the pizza such as the multiple vegetables, pepperoni, shredded cheese, sausages, onions, and olives. And that was just two bags combined. Three of the bags contained food items for the orphanage, but what about the remaining half? Were they extras? Is Vector going to give them away to Vanilla just in case she needs some food items? Who knows?

"Are we going to make an ice cream sundae after this?!" Marine excitingly asked her guardian.

"Better." Vector told the nine-year old. "We're having a food fight!"

"AWESOME!" Sonic and Marine yelled in glee.

"And you're okay with this?" Wave asked Vector while finally putting her hair into a bun. "I mean, we made a hell of a mess the last time we had one."

"Yep." Vector answered casually. " And this time, I'm gonna be in the food fight and once all of the food from the five bags are gone, we'll clean it up. Does that sound fine to you guys?"

"I guess so." Silver nodded his head. "And we can clean the whole kitchen quickly by using our powers anyway."

"Alright! I can't wait for the food fight!" Sonic cheered as he hastily teared up the sack of flour, causing some of the flour to not only spread around the counter for the pizza dough but to the boys faces, with Silver and Jet already spitting out the remains of the white powder before the latter can give the blue-haired teen a nasty glare.

"And I can't wait to smother you in ketchup." Jet replied back, taking the dough out of the bowl.

"Guys!" Silver shouted to the boys.

While getting the bowl for the pizza sauce, Wave silently giggled to herself as she overheard the boy's conversation and the look on all the boys with their faces covered in flour. Not even thirty seconds passed, and already they're a mess. Maybe that will get them ready for the food fight before being dirtied up with eggs and milk. Or Marine might soak them in water if she uses her powers in the fight later on.

She closed the cabinet door before placing the bowl to the other side of the counter and grabbed a wooden board in order to slice the tomatoes into small pieces before mixing them up into pizza sauce. But before Wave can start slicing, Blaze snatched three tomatoes from the board before the knife can make any scratches on her hands.

"You forgot to wash them." Blaze told Wave bluntly, heading towards the sink.

"Oops. I kinda forgot about that." said Wave, face-palming herself as she felt stupid to forget that simple rule.

"Forgot? Everyone should remember to wash the food before doing anything to it. Only an idiot would forget that rule."

"I'm not an idiot! Everyone forgets it at times! Even short head forgets it!"

"Hey!" Jet replied back, now covering the dough with flour, after hearing that embarrassing nickname. 5'5 feet isn't short! It's... average.

"Well keep that reminder in your head." Blaze told Wave while washing the tomatoes.

"I will. Now I'm going to wash the remaining tomatoes."

"With the help from me!" Marine chipped in.

Just by using one finger, a small ball of water appeared and with one swish, she splashed all three tomatoes quickly without making too much of a mess in the counter. The joys of having water powers as a 'gift'. With the tomatoes cleaned up, Wave quickly sliced the tomatoes into tiny pieces in a matter of seconds and slid them up into the bowl.

How Wave learned to slice that quickly without making a scratch to herself was from her dad. First time she tried to cut a food item, which was an orange, the knife slipped out of her hands an nearly killed Jet; the silver dagger sticking to the wall. By her third day on using the kitchen knife, she can easily cut anything from start to finish in about a minute or two without hurting herself. Man, any lessons from her dad can pay off big time. Maybe one day he'll teach Wave to drive well in less than two months.

Amazed how quickly Wave sliced the tomatoes with ease, Marine's eyes widened in awe and she asked her older sister figure, "Will you teach me how to do that?"

"When you're older. Trust me." Wave responded. As in, when Marine turns either eleven or twelve. She can handle matches and sharper scissors with no problem by the age of seven, but knifes at nine? That's an entirely different story.

"Because if you handle a knife right now, bad things will happen." Blaze commented, now finished with cleaning the tomatoes and setting them on the wooden board.

"Like bleeding horribly, accidentally stabbing yourself in the chest and other dangerous things?" Marine guessed.

_How does this girl...? _Blaze can only say in her thoughts, surprised a nine-year-old can know about that.

"She's mature for her age." Wave informed the lavender-haired girl.

"Very mature!" Silver added while tossing the dough up and down into a circular shape.

"I'll say." Blaze muttered under her breath before quickly slicing the tomatoes in a fast fashion like Wave did a few moments ago. And did she gain any scratches from that? Uh... No. No bleeding occurred from any parts of her body.

"Wow." Marine can only say after looking at Blaze chopping down the tomatoes quickly.

"Now what's the next step?" asked Blaze, putting the chopped tomatoes into the bowl.

"Put them into a blender and let them puree for a while." Wave informed, now getting the blender and setting it up. "Luckily this doesn't have a plug."

Understanding the next step, Blaze poured the chopped tomatoes from the bowl and into the uncovered blender before she covered it with the lid. Once covered, she pressed the button that reads blend, and in a few moments, the tomatoes went from solids to liquids in a matter of seconds. While waiting for the sauce to be ready, Marine went to the bottom cabinet where she pulled out a modestly sized electric kettle, which like the blender, doesn't required to be plugged in, and set it next to the blender.

"Is it ready yet?" asked Marine.

"No." Blaze answered to the nine-year-old. "Might have to wait until it's turned into a complete liquid."

"Alright."

"And while you're waiting, how about helping us spinning the dough?" Silver requested, catching the spinning dough with ease. "We really need it since Sonic somewhat screws it up easily."

"Not my fault if I toss it too high!" Sonic yelled to Silver before having the dough landing flat to his blue hair and covering one of his emerald green eyes.

"I guess I can do it." Blaze decided, walking to the opposite side where the boys are.

Silver handed her an already flatten pizza dough from the counter, but she didn't start tossing it in the air like Silver is doing. She basically has no clue the proper way to toss the dough without making any tear marks in it. Should she use her hands? Or her fists like Silver is doing? Yeah... She's basically lost on what the heck she should do. Maybe she should just...

Nah! Blaze might figure it out just by her first try. She noticed the dough is about to slip away from her left hand an tried tilting it a bit, but the right side is off balance, and this annoying process kept repeating itself for about a minute before Blaze felt Silver's hands underneath her's, trying to get the dough to stay in balance. After thirty seconds, the dough stayed in place in Blaze's hands, with Silver's hands still underneath hers since the silver-haired orphan knew this is her first time making pizza in here. Or a better way, the first time cooking with people other than her parents.

He can easily tell since Blaze's cheeks slowly turned into a tiny shade of pink, her hands slightly shaking when his hands are still touching hers, and the change of temperature of her hands as well.

"Uh... You okay?" Silver asked Blaze.

"Y... yeah..." Blaze answered, cheeks now transforming from pink to red. "Just... fine..."

"I thought you needed help with the dough. Am I right?"

"Y... You are right. But I can-"

"Do this on your own? Based on you struggling with the dough, you might need some help."

"I don't need any help!" Blaze told Silver, turning her head away from him.

"Come on. There's always a first for everything. I mean, it's your first time making dinner with others besides your parents and the first time you've been into someone's house. Or in this case, an orphanage. So maybe this can be your first time accepting help from others."

Well, it's either waste something just by screwing up with the tossing part of the pizza or have Silver help her out. Two choices and only one right answer. Her answer:

"Alright."

"Yea!" Silver cheered, still not letting go of her hands underneath the dough. "Okay, first, put one fist inside the dough, but be careful not to tear it."

"Okay." Blaze nodded, doing the exact steps Silver has told her, with Silver still holding her fists. "One fist on each side?"

"That's right. Now, carefully stretch your fists apart to stretch the dough more."

Blaze slowly moved her fists, with the dough slowly stretching a bit longer every second and looking like how Silver did it a few minutes ago.

"Good! You're doing it right!" Silver cheered. "Next, shift your left fist towards your fist and your right away from your face. That way, the dough will rotate while stretching."

Doing the exact steps Silver told her, Blaze witnessed the dough rotating in her own hands and her amber eyes widen in surprise as she's actually doing it! This is so amazing, she might have to ask her parents if they can make a handmade pizza together! Maybe next week would be a good time to ask!

"Move your left fist in an arc that goes backwards while twisting your right away from your face. Give your right a push, it'll rotate a bit faster. Got it, Blaze?"

"Got it." Blaze nodded her head, seeing the dough rotating faster than before while continuing the steps given by Silver. "Now what?"

"Toss it in the air."

"Really?"

"Use you fist and toss it real high, but not too high or you'll end up screwing up like Sonic."

"Hey!" Sonic yelled, having the dough that landed on his face a few moments ago now landing on Vector's. "Oh crap! Sorry Vector!"

Blaze now tossed the dough into the air, high enough to reach the ceiling light, but not enough to land on the ceiling itself, and the dough came falling down towards Blaze, which she quickly caught it with her two fists.

"Wow. That's just amazing!" Blaze commented.

"Isn't it?" Silver added, now letting go of Blaze's fists. "I guess two more times couldn't hurt just in case."

"Sure thing."

Repeating the process with tossing the pizza dough up and down, Blaze finished perfected shaping the dough into a proper circle without screwing up big time like Sonic did. But seeing Sonic having his dough landing on either Jet's or Vector's face every time he tosses the dough into the air makes her giggle to herself before placing the shaped dough into the clean part of the counter. After that, Blaze spotted Wave and Marine already adding some vegetables and two tablespoons of olive oil into the bowl full of tomato sauce, eventually turning into pizza sauce once the two get the right ingredients.

_Maybe I can help them a little. _Blaze thought.

However, before Blaze can even take a single step, she spotted a pizza dough coming down towards her above her head, and with quick thinking, Blaze caught it with her hands, happy she didn't tear it apart in the process.

"Too close." Blaze said, holding the perfectly fallen shaped dough.

"Sorry about that, Blaze!" Sonic yelled to the amber-eyed teen. "I didn't mean for it to happen! I guess my tossing skills need a little work."

"Little work? More like tons of work to me!" Jet commented, shaking his head to get rid of the dough and the flour from his head.

"It's alright, Sonic." Blaze told Sonic while placing the finished dough to the counter. "I'm lucky that it didn't land in my hair. Or covering one of my eyes or into somebody's arm..."

"I get it! I suck at catching the dough!"

"Why do you keep doing it anyway?"

"Because it's so much fun!" Sonic replied. "Especially if it lands on Jet."

"Wha-?!" Jet could only manage to say.

Sonic could only laugh after seeing Jet's mouth dropping down and his blue eyes widening in shock from hearing Sonic's reply, though not to the point he's falling down to the floor laughing again. However, the laughter spread once Silver started to burst out laughing loudly and the room filled with everyone's laughter, even Jet's, despite being laughed at a few seconds ago.

Helping out one another and sharing more than one or two laughs while making something delicious for everyone to enjoy, is this what it feels like cooking with people not related? If it is, then Blaze is glad she accepted Silver's offer to go to the Chaotix Orphanage. Very glad.

Now if only Espio and Tikal were here...

* * *

~Silver and Espio's Room (5:15 P.M.)~

Tikal is sitting on the edge of Espio's bed, clenching tightly onto the black sheets while she patiently waited for Espio to perfectly tune out his electric guitar since he knew Charmy and Bean messed with his guitar by making it way out of tune. Luckily, he knew how to tune it out quickly without using a tuner since Vector taught him to play and use the guitar properly ever since the guardian took Espio under his sacred roof.

While waiting for Espio to finish tuning his guitar, Tikal took in a few deep breaths, knowing what's going to happen once Espio is done with his instrument.

_Oh, I'm going to sing in front of Takeshi-san. _Tikal thought. _I don't know how it's going to go! I'm so nervous... yet at the same time... I kind of feel relaxed. I wonder how Takeshi-san is feel-_

Wait a minute... She can! She does have the power to read people's minds! Tikal doesn't use that ability that much due to the fact she hates invading people's privacy, but when she **really **wants to know something that nobody is telling her... Tikal will use that power.

Tikal closed her eyes before channeling into Espio's mind without him noticing to read his thoughts. And maybe get some information she wants to hear. Not too much though.

_Stupid Charlie and Benjamin messing up my guitar. I'm lucky they didn't horribly damage the guitar or I'd lacerate their..._

Okay! She didn't want to hear that!

_But not now. My first priority is helping Tikal overcome her stage fright..._

Aw...

_Just thinking about her voice..._

Her voice? There's more to her voice! Oh god, please tell her! She really wants to know so badly!

_God, her voice is... Well finally my guitar is in perfect tune!_

So much for hearing what's going to happen next. Hearing that Espio has finished tuning his guitar for the past ten to fifteen minutes, Tikal released parts of the black sheets out of her hands and put her hands together before placing them on her lap. Espio pulled out a chair from his desk, moving it close to the bed where Tikal is at, and sat on his chair, holding his guitar in an appropriate position.

"Sorry for making you wait." Espio apologized.

"I don't mind." Tikal replied.

"Good. Now you're wondering why I have my guitar with me."

"Are you going to play a song that I might recognize and I have to sing it while you-"

"Were you reading my mind?" Espio asked the orange-hair girl.

"M..maybe..." Tikal quietly replied. That was actually true!

"Well... yes. But you can sing whenever you feel like it."

"Whenever? In front of you?"

"Yes. You're going to sing in front of me. Alright?"

Uh... Sing in front... of... Oh God, help her right now! But since it's Espio...

"Sure." Tikal answered to Espio. She'll sing to him.

Once he gotten the response he wanted to hear from Tikal, Espio started to play the full notes of one of her favorite songs: Shake it Out by Florence + The Machine! She'll play this song whenever she has her iPod with her, and if she's alone of course, she'll sing it to herself. Hearing this song played with the guitar by the hands of Espio, however, Tikal didn't know whether if she should sing or not. Her mind says 'Don't sing', but her heart is yelling, 'Go ahead and let him hear your beautiful voice again!'. Which should she choose?

Her hands are now gripping tightly onto her red plaid skirt after trying to get a single note out of her mouth in order to sing the song she loves! Oh dear! This can't be good! Whenever Tikal is going to talk in front of the class, she always freezes before speaking the first word from her mouth! So this rule applies to not only speaking but singing as well?! Well, that's just great! Just. Flipping. Great.

_Come on, Tikal! Just make a note from this melody! Anything! _Tikal encouraged herself.

Taking a deep breath, what was suppose to start off as a pleasant voice ended up being a small squeak that sounded a little bit off tune, causing Tikal to cover her mouth and Espio to cease playing the guitar. Espio knew Tikal is going to be nervous when she's suppose to sing in front of him, but he didn't expect her to be THIS nervous!

Getting off the chair, Espio placed his electric guitar next his bed and ended up sitting in his own bed, next to Tikal. He can see Tikal's violet eyes ready to flow with tears, though she's doing her best to fight them; not wanting to cry in front of Espio. Not wanting to see Tikal cry, Espio placed his hand onto her shoulder and rubbed it in a soothing fashion, trying to calm her down before she can start sobbing more tears.

"I'm sorry if I made you do this." Espio manage to say.

"It's alright." Tikal answered, wiping away her tears. "I was just-"

"Nervous? Is that all?"

"Err... Yeah. You did remember what I said at Asia Diamond yesterday about my stage fright?"

The part about being nervous when there's too many people around? Yep. Big time. Espio nodded his head to answer Tikal's question on their conversation yesterday. He can't get rid of Tikal's stage fright completely in just one week, but he can help her be less nervous before next Friday sweeps by the corner. Now... what can-

CLICK! Something brilliant just popped into his mind. This should work!

"I got an idea that will work." said Espio, now grabbing his guitar and back to the chair he sat a few moments ago.

"What is it?" Tikal wondered.

"Can you close your eyes for me?"

"Like this?" she questioned, now having her eyes fully shut and patiently waiting for the next instructions from Espio.

"Yes. Now, I'll play the same melody, but this time, pretend I'm not there at all."

"Huh? Wha-?" Whoa. Didn't expect that coming.

" You sing when you're alone. But if you close your eyes, you won't see me looking at you. You're getting this so far?"

"I am."

"Once you feel comfortable, slowly open your eyes and continue singing. Alright?"

Tikal nodded her head, still having her eyes closed. With the two of them taking deep breaths at the same time, Espio started to play the beginning of "Shake it Out" and wondered if Tikal is going to sing the first chorus of the song. He heard this song, and he knew the singer started to sing at the two to four second mark, and he's been playing the beginning melody for at least fifteen seconds. Maybe this idea seemed to be a-

_"Regrets collect like old friends. Here to relieve your darkest moments. I can see no way, I can see no way. And all of the ghouls come out to play."_

Fantastic one after all! Tikal is actually starting to sing! Her eyes are still closed, but maybe they'll open by the first minute or two. Espio hopes her eyes open in one minute.

_"And every demon wants his pound of flesh. But I like to keep some things to myself, I like to keep my issues strong. It's always darkest before dawn. And I've been a fool and I've been blind. I can never leave the past behind. I can see no way, I can see no way. I'm always dragging that horse around."_

After singing the first half of the first verse, Tikal slowly opened her eyes, only seeing Espio's hands playing the melody to "Shake it Out" in his guitar. She continued to sing the song while letting her eyes fully open very slowly. She wanted to see if Espio is smiling to her for following his advice and if he's enjoying her beautiful voice.

_"And our love is pastured such a mournful sound. Tonight, I'm gonna bury that horse in the ground. So I like to keep my issues strong, but it's always darkest before dawn."_

Finally completing the first verse to her song she memorizes by heart, Tikal fully opened her eyes while singing:

"_Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh woaaah! Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh woaaah! And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back. So shake it off. Oh whoa!"_

Now that her eyes are fully open, Tikal felt her heart beating a bit faster than before, a little nervous on the inside that Espio is watching her sing fully, but happy on the outside that Espio is the first one who gets to hear her voice. Sure, she wanted Knuckles to hear her voice first, but lately, with an AP class in his schedule (World History), having soccer and just recently baseball practice after school, and now having to go to Rouge's photo shoots until October 19th, there's no way Knuckles can even listen to Tikal sing out a melody to him.

All of her other friends had multiple stuff to do, such as Silver taking care of the orphans while finishing his school work and writing articles for the Journalists Club, Sonic and track practice, Shadow juggling volunteer hours in the library, holding his job at Asia Diamond, attending both track and tennis practice, and loads of work from his AP classes, Tails working on homework and part of the Student Council as Historian, Cream spending time with her mom, Amy doing whatever hits her mind (mainly chasing Sonic or hanging around with Cream), and Rouge with her print modeling duties. None of them have time to hear Tikal's voice...

But Espio. He did have to take care of the orphans along with Silver, holding two part time jobs from Beverly Hill's top restaurants (Asia Diamond and Sapphire), being a reporter in the Journalists Club, and dealing with four Pre-AP classes, yet he still has time to hear Tikal singing. Who knew?

_"And given half the chance would I take any of it back. It's a fine romance, but it's left me so undone. It's always darkest before the dawn..."_

Before Tikal can finish singing the second verse, Espio stopped playing the melody from his guitar and lowered it in order to see Tikal a little better. He can see Tikal is giving out a modestly big and sweet smile to him, a giggle coming out of her mouth.

"Well? How did I do?" Tikal asked Espio.

"Just amazing. You hit every note perfectly, and maybe did better than the original artist." Espio told Tikal his honest opinion.

"Aw! Thank you, Takeshi-san!" Tikal replied back, her cheeks blushing bright red. She swears she can see Espio's cheeks blushing a light shade of pink.

"And did this somehow get parts of your stage fright to fly away?"

"Yes."

"Well, let's try a different song, but this time, keep your eyes open and imagine your brother is here, along with your friends."

"Okay!" Tikal cheerfully answered, ready to sing.

Picking up the guitar once again, Espio immediately played the notes from "Connect" and heard Tikal already singing the opening to this song.

_"I won't forget the promises we exchanged. I close my eyes to affirm it. I will shake off the overwhelming darkness to move forward."_

_ So far, so good. _Tikal thought as she listened Espio playing the beginning solo to the song and tapped her foot to the wooden floor to the rhythm of this sweet song. Once Espio played from the solo to the chords of the first verse, Tikal continued to tap her feet while singing and thought of her brother and Rouge in this room right now, smiling and tapping their feet like she was at this moment.

_"When will I ever be able to see the lost future from here again? Let's move forward in this world by shattering the overflowing shadows of anxiety again and again."_

_ This is better than I imagined. _Espio commented in his mind, still focusing on playing "Connect" from his guitar. He thought Tikal would sound a bit off for a few moments once he started playing, but instead, Tikal kept her wonderful voice from start and hopefully finish.

_"Time now begins to tick away incessantly. Let's open the closed door, while carrying our unchanging feelings_. _My heart awakes in order to depict the future, even if I come to halt on a tough road, the beautiful blue sky always waits for me. Therefore, I'm not afraid. I won't be disheartened anymore, no matter what happens."_

After Tikal finished singing the chorus, Espio stopped playing his guitar and finally placed it on his guitar stand before sitting next to Tikal once again in his bed.

"Great job." Espio complemented Tikal. "You weren't off-key and maintained your beautiful voice in tact."

"I know!" Tikal agreed with Espio, nodding her head. "Throughout the song, I imagined Kennith and Rouge in this room, listening to my voice and I can see that they enjoyed it a lot!"

"Now what if others like Ryan and Venice heard you sing?"

"Sonic would be yelling out 'Yeah! Sing it out, Tikal', Silver will give me a thumbs up, and almost everyone's mouths would drop wide once they can find out that I can sing beautifully!"

"So you can't wait for next Friday?"

"Yes!"

"And I know it may seem weird for me to ask, but what song are you planning to perform?"

"Oh... I was thinking about singing 'Secret Princess'."

_Secret Princess, huh? Suites her perfectly. _Espio thought.

"You think I can ask a few people to play that song for you?" asked Espio.

"Uh... I don't know. They might think that-"

"You're a horrible singer? Once they hear you, they wouldn't mind playing the song for you." Espio added.

"Who would you ask?" Tikal wondered, kind of worried on who'll provide the instruments.

"Vector would be one, playing either the drums or the bass, Ryan playing the guitar, and that's all I can think of on top of my head. But in order for them to believe me, you might have to sing in front of them."

"I have to?"

"Yeah. Do you think you can do that?"

Having other people besides Espio hear her voice? Well, she did want others to hear her voice, but at the same time, she doesn't! But knowing Espio, he'll ask people he personally knows to hear Tikal's voice such as Sonic or Silver, and will provide the tunes in order for her to sing "Secret Princess". So maybe the wise answer would be:

"Sure! Maybe after dinner would be great!"

"Okay." Espio nodded his head, pleased that Tikal is going along with his plan.

Once tonight is over, Tikal will shake off most of her stage fright to the ground, opening the door to escape from her fears she locked up for years and ready to spread her long-kept secret to the world! From a shy Secret Princess to a shinning idol in just one week!

"Takeshi-san?" Tikal called out to Espio.

"Yeah? What is it?" the purple-haired teen wondered.

"Do you think if we should go downstairs and help everyone out with the pizzas?"

"Uh... I'm sure they'll be fine." Espio answered.

He really didn't want to think back to 'that' moment almost an hour ago where he literally screamed to Vector on refusing to make the pizzas with everyone. Normally, he'd helped out with Silver, but with helping Tikal to overcome her stage fright, he can't waste any time and went to great lengths to make Vector go away by pulling out his katana! Harsh, but it worked.

"We can go downstairs in about ten minutes to see how they're doing." Espio suggested. "Does that work for you?"

"Yeah." Tikal nodded her head. "Do you think there's going to be a huge mess in there?"

"Maybe."

Wonder how things are going in the kitchen? Hopefully, they might be done by now with a huge mess in there thanks to Sonic.

* * *

~Kitchen (5:45 P.M)~

"Alright! We're almost done!" Sonic, now off of his apron along with everyone else, cheered with glee as the six pizzas were on six large metal cookie sheets on the counter.

Everyone couldn't believe that the only thing they have left to do is to heat up all six pizzas for about ten to fifteen minutes, and then they can finally have that food fight most of them wanted! Especially Sonic and Marine!

"You ready to put the pizzas into the oven?" Silver asked Sonic.

"Duh!" Sonic nodded his head.

As Silver opened the oven, he immediately took a few steps back as a bunch of toys were flowing out of the oven for at least five seconds! And god, were they horribly messed up! The dolls having their heads melted down (though Silver did admit it was funny to see a Barbie doll with wax), toy pieces missing, stuffed animals having their arms turn into crispy black, and checker pieces not looking like checker pieces at all! And if the damage to the toys was just horrible enough, the oven almost wanted to make Silver throw something to the wall! There were melted crayon waxes all over the oven, above and below where the cookie sheets are suppose to be, cotton from the stuffed animals burning, and somehow, there's Play-doh on the bottom of the oven, all dried out, but scorching hot once Silver tried to touch it!

Oh great! Heating up the pizzas is going to take them a whole lot longer than they expected, and they might not have the food fight after all! This is just... This is just... just... just...

ARRRGGHHH!

"This will take an hour to clean this oven up!" Silver shouted, shaking his hand to get the hot feeling off from him.

"What if I used my water powers to clean this up?" Marine suggested. "That way, we'll still have enough time to bake the pizzas and have our food fight."

"That seems to be a great idea, Marine, but considering the large mess, we still won't have time to heat up every pizza before 7:30. With your powers, it might take until 6:30 just to get it completely cleaned, and the pizzas take about fifteen minutes for it to be fully cooked. So..."

"Not enough pizzas equals no food fight for this weekend." Wave concluded, waving her hand to her face to get rid of the disgusting smell of wax and heated play-doh.

"Yeah, that."

"Aw..." Marine said in disappointment.

"Now who would stuff a bunch of random toys into an oven?" Sonic questioned. "You have to be-"

"Bean and Charmy in order to do that crap in the first place!" Jet figured it out, clenching both of his fists tightly.

Ooh, Bean is sooooo going to get what he deserves once they get home! Maybe Jet should take away Bean's Extreme Gear for a month and let Wave make it into a complete mess that he'll never mess with him or anybody else ever again. And if possible, never be around with Charmy again! EVER!

"It practically screams these two! I just know it!" Jet continued, kicking a stuffed dinosaur away from his feet. "They probably did this when they got out of school!"

"That explains why they were carrying those toys into the kitchen." Vector added.

"WHAT?! YOU LET THEM-?!" Jet yelled to Vector, furious that this orphanage owner would let them do this ridiculous action in the first place.

"I thought they were going to play in the kitchen." Vector admitted, now face-palming himself after he felt like a total idiot. Before he left to the grocery store about three hours ago, Vector spotted Charmy and Bean carrying a pile full of toys, and thought that Charmy's room didn't have enough space to play in, so he decided to let them play in the kitchen as long as they cleaned up their mess after they were done playing. Uh... big mistake...

"Hello?! Bean practically puts the toys into the oven whenever he's done playing! Did you not happen to remember?!"

As in, no matter what house Bean is in, he'll stuff some toys into the oven. Heated in max temperature. Not fun for those who have to clean it up. Like now.

"Uh... can we forget about those devils later?" Wave suggested, snapping the orphanage owner and her best friend's minds back to reality. "Right now, we have a situation we have to handle. A huge one."

"Getting the pizzas ready before 7:30." Sonic reminded everyone. "And to be honest, unless there's a genie right now, we might have to make something else."

"And I don't think we want to make another dish after spending at least an hour making these pizzas." Silver commented. "Now what?"

_I can use my pyrokinesis to heat up all the pizzas in less than a minute. _Is what Blaze wanted to say in front of everyone, but how would they all react to her 'gift' she hated almost her entire life? Would they run away like everyone else? Scream and say she's a freak of society? Okay, that last one seemed way off for people like Silver and Sonic, but the first one is possible. However, what if everyone accepted her powers and treated her like they treat others? Would they possibly do that?

_Either I let the situation go the way it is and make everyone suffer, or I would make a solution that would make everyone happy but will end up revealing my powers in the end. Which one should I choose?_

"We're not going to waste perfectly made pizzas for something that's pre-made!" Silver commented. "We still need to complete it!"

"Yeah! Oven or no oven! We'll find a way to make these pizzas all baked!" Sonic agreed, raising his fists in the air. "Right, guys?"

"Yea!" everyone yelled.

And with some encouragement from Silver and Sonic, Blaze finally made up her mind on what to do. Even if it means she may be called a freak by everyone in this kitchen. Her right hand fully clenched, Blaze walked towards to the counter, the pizzas in rows of threes going straight, and placed both hands on the edges of the counter. Everyone, mainly Silver, were curious on what Blaze is going to do right now with the pizzas. Maybe she's finally going to show her special 'gift' to everyone! Yea! That could be it!

Maybe her special talent is having fire coming out of her mouth! Or is she a spell caster that has unlimited magic on her hands? How about having the power to make everything complete no matter what it is? Or...

Silver and everyone in the kitchen eventually got their answer when flames erupted on her hands, surprisingly not burning the counter, going through the cookie sheets with pizzas filled with various of toppings such as pepperoni, spinach, mushrooms, and sausage, and watched the pizzas from being white to golden-brown in a matter of seconds! It's like they expected to see in the oven, only a thousand or a million times faster than the oven! Maybe they should be glad that the oven was messed up by Bean and Charmy! Not only that, they finally witnessed Blaze's special talent: pyrokinesis. An **incredibly **rare gift to possess in the whole world! Only about .08% of the population possessed pyrokinesis! Seeing Blaze having that power, it's just... Silver needs to make up a new word just to describe that power.

_No wonder you were called 'Blaze' at your old school. _Silver thought, still amazed at Blaze's powers.

After about thirty seconds of completely cooking the pizzas, Blaze released her grip off of the counter and turned around to see everyone 's eyes widen and Sonic's mouth dropping down much wider than before. Possibly the widest ever! She knew it was going to happen. They were just speechless on what just happened right now, and could only think she's 'a total freak that will one day destroy us all' in their heads. Well, to her at least. But what are they really thinking? This might be the best time to ask them on what they think.

"Alright. You witnessed my 'gift'," Blaze started, now leaning near the counter, but is careful on not to put her elbows on the pizzas. "Now, you can say anything you want concerning about my powers. I don't care if it's insulting, just let it out."

Silence came to the kitchen once Blaze said that last sentence. Nobody let out a single slip out of their mouths. Until...

"Holy crap, that was amazing." Sonic made the first comment. Once Sonic made that comment, everybody started to make various comments about Blaze's powers, one by one.

"SO COOL!" cheered Marine, eyes now sparkling.

"Damn girl, you gotten some amazing powers." Wave complemented to Blaze, now letting her hair fall down to her waist.

"More than amazing." Jet added.

"Great to see more people with these 'gifts'." Vector commented. "Silver, what do you think?"

"Yeah, Vennie? What do you think?" Sonic repeated the question to his friend.

Nothing came out of his mouth as he still doesn't know what to say about Blaze's powers. He knew it was amazing, but like Jet mentioned, 'amazing' isn't enough to describe this special 'gift' Blaze possessed. What should he say?

"Vennie!" Sonic called out to Silver one more time.

"Yeah, Sonic?" Silver responded.

"You're opinion?"

Here goes nothing.

"Well Blaze, none of us are not terrified of your power, but I have to say..." Silver started.

"Say what?" Blaze wondered, arms crossed.

"I can't believe you would hide that incredible, amazing, and unique power from everyone."

...What? That's what he thinks about her 'cursed' flames? Incredible? Amazing? And that one word: unique? Nobody has ever used those words to describe her powers. Most people would use 'horrible', 'crazy', 'psycho', or even 'sadistic' whenever they see someone having pyrokinesis inside them. Silver is the first person to say those words, along with the people in this kitchen right now. God, she can't believe this day is actually happening! No way!

"You mean those words?" Blaze asked Silver.

"110% true." Silver answered. "And the same goes for everyone. Right?"

"Big time!" Sonic agreed with Silver, holding a thumbs-up, along with everyone else.

"And like I said, having a 'gift' from God is one of the best things you can ask for in the whole world."

"But nobody but my parents can accept my powers." Blaze pointed out.

"That's because their idea of a 'perfect society' is just screwed up and dumb." Wave pointed out, putting emphasis on perfect society. "As in, anyone who has powers are classified as 'freaks', or not normal. And in my dictionary, there's no such thing as normal."

"Or a normal human being to be exact." Silver added. "But we aren't those people who call people 'freaks' just because they're different than the rest of us. We accept them for the way they are, just like we did with you. So, I guess we're the first people to accept your powers. Is that okay with you?"

Okay with her for Silver and everyone in the kitchen to accept her 'gift'? Silver is the first to keep coming back to her even if he fails miserably. He's the first to take her somewhere outside of school. He's the first who wanted to be friends to her, along with his friends. And now, they're the first to accept her powers and not call her a freak when they first met her. Okay, Sonic had a hard time accepting Blaze at first, but he eventually made his mind to be friends with her. With all of this happening in just three days, Blaze wondered if she should say yes or no. Well, everyone in this room has special 'gifts' from god, and she should say the obvious answer to them.

"Yeah. I'm fine with you guys accepting my powers." Blaze answered to everyone in the kitchen.

"Well that's-"

"GREAT TO HEAR!" Sonic interrupted Silver by jumping and yelling with glee. "Now that we figured out Blaze's special 'gift', we should celebrate by having our food fight right now!"

"Not until I covered them with a shield." Silver added, using his psychokinesis to surround a huge aqua bubble around the six freshly baked pizzas before levitating the five brown bags in each bottom corner of the counter, one corner having two bags. "Alright. Now, are you guys ready for a-"

"Can I say it, Silver mate?" Marine asked Silver.

"Sure." Silver nodded his head.

"Alright! It's time for a FOOD FIGHT!" Marine shouted, grabbing a large tomato from the brown bag, splattering onto Silver's face once it made impact.

"Go Marine!" Wave cheered to the brown-haired girl while shaking a six canned pack of Coke, opening them one, the taste of cola soaking Jet's green hair. "Got'cha, short head!"

In response to the cola soaking his head, now falling to his face, founded a package of white eggs, and started to fling them to Wave in the opposite side, hoping it'll hit her in the opposite side where the three girls are now. So instead of Sonic and Jet having their own teams, it's now the battle of the sexes; three girls and four boys. Seems to be an uneven match-up, but in the Chaotix Orphanage when having a food fight, anything goes. With everyone having powers, it's the best food fight in the whole world!

Silver tossed four tomatoes using his psychokinesis powers, hitting Marine in the head and Wave on her hair, but Blaze dodged the tomatoes and while grabbing some marshmallows from the plastic bag, she slightly melted them in order for it to be a bit sticky. Once she thought it was sticky enough, she threw the melted marshmallows to the boys' side, hitting Sonic in the cheek, screaming out loudly and rubbing his cheek in order to sooth the red mark.

"Hot, hot, hot, hot, SO FREAKING HOT!" Sonic screamed before he tasted some of the cream from the marshmallow off of his cheeks. "But it tastes so good!"

"Sonic!" Jet, Silver and Vector yelled to the blue-haired teen.

"What? It's seriously good! You want some?"

"Why would we want-"

SPLAT! Salsa now went all over Jet's clothes and parts of it now sliding down into his hair. He already had dough and soda on his hair, but this is the last straw when he witnessed Wave laughing loudly when she saw Jet covered in salsa. Oh. It. Is. ON!

"You have anything sweet and sticky?" Jet asked Sonic.

"Would chocolate syrup do?" Sonic suggest, pulling out chocolate syrup out of the brown bag.

"Perfect!" Jet agreed, snatching the bottle of chocolate syrup out of Sonic's hands, and opened the child-proof lid in order for the syrup to squirt out.

Once he tested out a few times to see if it can do long-ranged shots, Jet smiled to himself before screaming, "Taste chocolate, Wave!", squirting the brown syrup to Wave, most of them ending up on her face, dripping down to her dark jeans and light green shirt. Before Jet can laugh at how much of a mess Wave is, Marine and Blaze, holding piles of peaches and pomegranates in their hands, threw the two sweet fruits to Jet all at once, and Jet, along with Sonic and Vector, were now covered in pomegranate and peach juice all over their clothes.

"Nice comeback!" Sonic complemented to the girls before flinging pasta sauce to the girls, only hitting Marine in the face.

"Good shot, Sonic!" Silver cheered for his friend while he flung guacamole to Wave and Blaze, only for Blaze to use a box full of Cocoa Puffs to protect them from getting smothered in the green sauce.

"Why don't you have this?!" Blaze yelled to the boys, now throwing a mixture of pasta sauce, squirting pink, green and blue cake frosting, and flinging cheese spread towards them, most of them ended up on Silver's hair, while the remaining went to Sonic's and Vector's face, the latter licking the frosting off of his face.

"Delicious." Vector muttered under his breath.

Scrambling her hands on the second brown bag since the first one is completely empty, Blaze founded about twenty boxed pies, a pound cake filled with white frosting, and two cans filled with whipped cream. This bag is full of sweets... Sweets she can throw to those boys, and maybe if possible, make a funny mustache on them. Okay, the last one seems to be not possible, but still, covering them in whipped cream is too hilarious to imagine.

"Are we going to..." Marine started to ask Blaze.

"Yep." Blaze answered to the young brunette.

"Hell yeah! This is going to be sweet!" Wave cheered, though she heard Marine giggle to herself after her older sister figure made an unnecessarily funny pun. "I didn't intend to say that!"

Opening the boxes of pies, one in a different flavor and about half of them are covered with whipped cream and chocolate sauce, Blaze and Wave started to fling the pies filled with whipped cream to the boys, and in a flash, all of the boys had whipped cream and chocolate sauce smothered all over their faces; Silver being covered in the most whipped cream.

"How come they get pies while we have some fruits and vegetables?!" Sonic commented.

"I have no idea!" Silver shouted to Sonic before having his face being more messed up with strawberry sauce. "But I'm enjoying it a lot since I'm like a human cake!"

"Awesome, right?!" Sonic and Vector told Silver, licking off the cream off of their faces.

"Okay, it's a bit fun, I'll admit." Jet added, now wiping the cream from his mouth before tasting the cream from his hands. "But now, let's try and get them with cream!"

"Agreed!" all the boys shouted together, now shaking a can of whipped cream before spraying them to the girls.

The cream landed on their shirts, or hair in Blaze's case, and in response to the boys covering their clothes in a sweet cream, Blaze and Wave sprayed back to the boys while Marine threw the pies to the boys and taking the hits from the whipped cream on the opposite side. And if that wasn't enough, Silver threw maraschino cherries to the girls, along with some of the sauce that came along with it, with Blaze only taking the full hit from the cherries on her face.

This is so ridiculous, yet she's enjoying herself with others that have those special 'gifts' like her. Who cares if she's acting like a Kindergartner? Who cares if her face is all covered with whipped cream and maraschino cherries? Who cares if she's participating in an immature fight that has no meaning other than to have fun? Not her, apparently! For what seems to be like an eternity to Blaze, this is the first time she had this much fun! And the first time she's having fun with people other than her parents! How she wishes it could last until midnight! Oh, how she wish!

But that wish might not last for a while when Espio and Tikal entered the kitchen, and everybody stopped on what they were doing, though Marine tossed the pie to Espio's face, covering his mouth with whipped cream and lemon filling. And once that happened, things are going to go down the drain. As in... below the Earth's surface to be exact.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS DOING?!" Espio demanded in the most loudest voice anyone has heard from him.

No response.

"WELL?!"

"Uh... we're having a food fight..." Vector started, "And-"

"A FOOD FIGHT?!" Espio yelled in front of his guardian's face. "WHY?!"

"I'd allowed it this time! Is that right everyone?"

"Yea!" Marine, Sonic, Silver, and Wave nodded their heads.

"Oo, ginawa niya!" Jet nodded his head as well while saying 'Yes, he did' in Tagalog.

"He most certainly did." Blaze answered to Espio.

"See? I told you." Vector said to Espio.

"And tell me you guys are all done with making the-"

"Yes." everyone in the kitchen answered before Espio can finish his question.

"And besides, be an awesome kuya for Marine and have fun in the food fight with all of us!" Jet told Espio while tossing his can of whipped cream up and down. "You can have Tikal get involved in this food fight if she likes to."

"No way! I'm not going to get involved-"

However, Espio was cut short when Tikal smothered his face with cherry pie; his face now smothered in maraschino cherry sauce and a mix of whipped cream.

"Tikal!" Espio exclaimed in shock, surprised that Tikal would do something like that to him.

"It's a food fight. Anything goes, right?" Tikal told Espio before going to the girl's side.

"Aw, damn Tikal! I didn't know you had that in you!" Wave commented, giving Tikal a high-five to her.

"Now do you want to join this fight?" everybody asked Espio.

Short silence came from him, but after seeing Tikal smiling and the only one not covered in any food item, Espio gave out a small smile to the boys, snatched a bottle of whipped cream from the counter, and started to shake it.

"Sure." Espio replied before spraying whipped cream to Tikal's hair.

Having her hair covered in white cream, Tikal responded back by throwing another pie to Espio, only for the pie to hit Vector in the chest. And with that, the food fight is fully back to where it was! Whipped cream squirting on everyone, tomatoes, eggs, peaches and plums flying in the air, hot marshmallows landing on the boys' faces, with Sonic not minding it not one bit, shaken soda from a can soaking clothes or hair, and Blaze yelling 'Eat this, suckers!', this is really the best food fight ever in not just the whole world, but the whole universe!

And most importantly, by seeing others who have special 'gifts' from God like her, being accepted for what she is and what 'powers' she possessed, and being involved in rowdy but fun and exciting events, this is Blaze's best day. Ever.

* * *

**Author's Note: WHEW! Man, it's been ages since I've uploaded this story! And this is the longest one so far! Sheesh, with school attacking me with homework from almost all of my classes, I thought it may take forever to write this chapter, but I did it! YEA! And I hoped you liked this chapter as much as I did! Especially the food fight! That's by far my favorite scene to write as of now!**

**Now, for names, I'm going with Tikal's name, minus her last name since I've already covered that with Knuckles in Chapter 8. Her name can either mean "at the waterhole" for the Yucatec Maya Language, or "the place of all voices" in the Itza Maya Language. I'm mainly leaning towards the latter since she can sing in this story, and her voice is known to be pleasant. **

**Songs Heard in the Story:**

**"Shake it Out" by Florence + The Machine (I blame and thank my sister for playing this song while doing other stuff)**

**"Connect" by ClariS (loved the opening to "Puella Magi Madoka Magica")**

**Also mentioned is "Secret Princess" from the Shugo Chara Character Song Collection 2 (though I forgot the names of the singers. Two versions.)**

**And again, I'll be busy with school, so maybe you can expect the next chapter of Gray Flame to come up before next month arrives. I promise.**

**Now then, if you'd like this story so far, please leave a review, and if possible, tell me your three favorite parts of this story! I'd like to know! Until then, see ya! ;D**


	12. Those Friday Nights

~Chaotix Orphanage- Living Room (6:55 P.M.)~

After cleaning up the kitchen (not to mention changing their clothes) from the intense, rowdy, messy yet exciting food fight, they ended up relaxing in the living room, doing whatever they wanted in order to kill time until 7:30 arrives. Blaze, Silver, Jet, Wave, and Espio were going to continue on working on their book report, but instead of doing that, they ended up doing this activity instead: playing DDR Max X3 (version 3). Most of them were just watching, except Espio and Tikal who were still upstairs getting cleaned, but currently, Sonic, Silver, Vector and Marine were dancing to "Rhythm and Police", all set to the highest setting the game has to offer: Master.

And boy... were they getting into this game!

They were stepping onto multiple arrows per second, not getting a break due to the intense pace of this song, and Sonic slipped off the dance pad a few times due to the sweat from his feet after playing four songs in a row. As in four fast-paced songs! He really wanted to take a break from all this dancing, but it's better than sitting around for the next thirty-five minutes of waiting doing nothing at all.

"Oh, come on! I broke my 50 streak combo again?!" Sonic exclaimed after mistiming his steps. "Seriously?!"

"Yeah," Silver told Sonic. "It might not matter right now since Marine hasn't broke her streak as of now."

"WHAT?!"

She may not look like it, but Marine is pretty great at Dance Dance Revolution, no matter what difficulty she's playing at. Easy, Medium, Hard, she can play it while getting no mistakes at all. How she got so good at this game was Vector accidentally setting the difficulty level on the game to Heavy instead of Light a year ago, with the exact song playing. Sure, she had a few missteps on the beginning at first, but by the time it came to the middle of the song, she ended up beating Vector at his favorite DDR song of all time! Ever since that 'incident', Marine has been beating everyone in that game, only tying with her sister-figure, Wave.

"Are you getting tired Sonic mate?" Marine asked Sonic, still focusing on the game.

"Nu-uh!" Sonic cheered, though he's lying as he's already feeling pain in his feet.

"You sure?" Vector asked Sonic. "You look tired to me."

"I'm fine!"

And after Sonic told Vector he's going to be okay despite the fatigue in his feet, Sonic once again slipped off from the pad, causing him to fall flat on his stomach on the dance pad. Luckily he fell on the last few seconds of the song and when the last arrow of the song appeared on the screen. Maybe he does need to take a break from DDR for at least two songs before going back and try to beat Marine from this game. Four songs and this nine-year-old still hasn't even broke a sweat! How is this possible?!

"Never mind. I take that back." Sonic said to everyone before getting up off the mat and seeing his rank on the TV screen. His mouth dropped wide in surprise after seeing his score. "I got a C?! Oh come on! I fell off the mat three times for god's sake!"

"This is why you shouldn't play four fast-paced songs in a row." Silver informed Sonic before the blue-haired teen dragged his feet into the wooden floor before crashing into the couch.

"Ha ha." Sonic gave out a sarcastic laugh before shouting out, "Anyone who wants to play DDR can use mat 2 right now! And beware of Marine!"

"Fine. And I'll beat Marine for sure, unlike you blue-spikes." Wave told Sonic while teasing him, getting off the couch and stepped onto mat, ready to play the song Silver chose.

Blaze, who's sitting next to the already exhausted Sonic, gave Sonic a glass full of water with ice, which he chugged it down right when he swiped the glass off of Blaze's hands. After finishing the water in less than five seconds, Sonic placed it on the table before putting his feet on the table, watching the four players starting to dance to "Midnite Blaze".

"You okay?" Blaze asked Sonic.

"Other than my feet and legs turning a bright crimson from dancing, I'm great!" Sonic exclaimed.

"Really?"

"Yeah! Anyway, do you think you can play the next round after this song is over?"

"No. To be honest, I never played this game before."

"Never?!" Sonic slightly yelled, shock that Blaze hasn't played DDR in her whole life. He knows all of his friends played DDR at least once, all of them handling the highest setting with no problems. Even Cream didn't have a problem with the Master setting nor was Shadow afraid to play this 'childish' game as he called it. "You mean... You have never played DDR in your life?!"

"Why? Is it that much of a big deal?" Blaze asked Sonic.

"Yes it is!"

"I don't even know how to play the game."

"You don't have to know how to play the game! Okay, maybe you do, but it's pretty simple! Just step on the arrows on the screen, but don't miss too much steps or you'll get a low score." Sonic explained the game to Blaze. "Easy, right?"

"I guess so." Blaze nodded her head. "And you guys set the difficulty level to the highest it can go, am I right?"

"Yep! Though you have to beware of Marine. A.K.A, the DDR 'champion'." Sonic stated, putting air quotes on champion.

"Because she's very good at this game?" Blaze guessed.

"Yeah." Sonic nodded his head to Blaze's answer. "How did you know?"

"I kept watch of her ever since you guys started to play the game."

The two of them looked at the four players currently racking up high combos, with Marine and Wave having the highest out of the four, though Silver and Vector were on their own competition since beating Marine is impossible unless they have good feet. While the song is playing, they can hear them singing the lyrics to the song they were playing/dancing. The boys doing the rap while the girls were handling the chorus of the song.

_"All night long, you take the lead. Stay with me you're all I need. Please make this moment last, time is running really fast. Something tells me you need to go. Why? I need to know. Do you think we will meet again? If not, my future will never begin." _Silver and Vector rapping, with the latter getting into the rap.

_ "I'll be your Midnite Blaze. Brighter than the moon and stars, guide you through the cave of love..." _Wave and Marine sang, though the former understood the words better than the latter.

"They're really having a good time with this game. Aren't they?" Blaze asked Sonic.

"You bet they are!" Sonic agreed, tapping his feet to the beat. "And I bet you'll have a good time as well once this song is over!"

"Huh?!"

Blaze... playing/dancing in a few moments? No way! She knows she can't dance very well! If Blaze isn't a good dancer, then she can't imagine how bad she'll be playing DDR in front of everyone!

"No thanks, Sonic." Blaze refused. "I... I don't dance. So please-"

"Oh come on! Don't be like that!" Sonic said, now crossing his legs. "You'll never know until you try! Please?"

"No."

"Well then, I guess that leaves me with no choice."

What did Sonic mean by that?

Sonic used his hands to make a hole around his mouth before yelling to the players, "Hey! Can one of you guys let Blaze take over so she can play DDR for the first time in her whole life?"

_Eh?! Sonic, are you serious?! _Blaze screamed inside her mind, seeing what Sonic is doing. She prays that no one would take on-

"I'll let her play." Vector offered, raising his hand, still stepping on the mat. "Besides, I need to check if Charmy is behaving in his room."

Too late. Blaze is going to participate in this game in a few seconds since they're about close to the end of the song. Great... This ought to be fun... Not.

"Yea! You'll get to play the game!" Sonic cheered. "Isn't that great?"

"Uh... yeah..." Blaze lied to Sonic. "I'm sure I'll do fine."

_No I won't. _Blaze added in her thoughts.

The music that the four players were playing has ended, and Silver fell down to his knees as his feet were starting to turn red after playing only two songs, taking in a few deep breathes while wiping the sweat off of his forehead. The two girl players were giving each other high-fives after getting the same rank, AA, and that they tied for the best score and highest combo streak. Vector sighed loudly after playing four songs in a row like Sonic did and left the pad empty before grabbing a water bottle and chugging the bottle empty in just four seconds.

"Tired?" Sonic asked Vector.

"Yeah... I can barely move my legs..." Vector commented before starting to drag his legs to the staircase, muttering 'Ow' every six to ten steps.

"Do you want me to check Charmy and Bean for ya?" Sonic offered to Vector, jumping out of the couch.

"Uh... Sure thing." Vector nodded his head before crashing down on the couch, causing Blaze and Jet, reading The Kite Runner, to move back a few spaces in order to give the green-haired guardian some space.

"Yeah, I'll go with you too just in case Bean and Charmy go wild." Jet decided, leaving the book on the couch.

"Thanks guys."

"No problem!" Sonic replied, giving Vector a thumbs-up. "Just leave it to us! Oh, and Blaze..."

Blaze turned her head around to see Sonic and Jet halfway up the stairs, with Sonic holding onto the white rail with one hand and leaning on it at the same time.

"Remember to have fun!" Sonic shouted before sprinting up the stairs in a flash, almost causing Jet to lose his balance and fall down the stairs. Luckily, he caught the rail on time and started to run up the stairs before yelling to Sonic:

"Sonic! Get back here!"

Okay, that lightened up her mood on playing DDR with everyone. Blaze got off the couch and her feet her on the DDR pad, which is next to Silver who's now getting back of his feet and is ready to select the next song for them to play.

"Hey, Blaze! You ready to play?" Silver asked, stepping the left arrow to find a good song for the four players to enjoy.

"I guess..." Blaze shyly answered. "I'll try my best."

"Good. Now-"

"Lets do Max 3000!" Marine suggested, jumping in glee.

"No way! Not that song!" Wave objected to Marine's choice of song. "This is Blaze's first time playing this game, and that song is too difficult to play. Hell, you can't even earn an AA on that song."

"You're right. Sorry."

"Okay, no songs that are too intense." Silver pointed out, checking the song list. "And there's no way we're not doing Orion 78."

"Aw. I wanted to dance to that." Marine said in disappointment.

"Maybe later. Hmm... Let's go with... Err..."

Silver has no idea what song he should choose. He was going to pick "Look to The Sky" or "Candy", but since the difficulty level for all of the players were set to Master and wanted to find a song that everyone, including Blaze, can easily play while breaking a sweat or two, it's pretty hard to find one! Maybe "Candy" could be a good song to start off with. No wait... How about "Synchronized Love"? Or "Blow My Whistle"? Or...

"Captain Silver, are you going to choose a song already?" Marine asked in an impatient tone since she sometimes hates to wait, especially DDR.

"Hold up, Marine," Silver told the young brunette, "I'm just going to select random and see what song we'll play." Because Silver can't make up his mind on what song he should select!

"Let's hope it's not Max 3000." Wave muttered.

Silver founded the panel that reads 'shuffle' and stomped on the X pad in order for the game wheel to spin around crazy for the first five seconds. Once the five seconds were up, the wheel started to slow down for a bit and landed on "Connect" (DDR Mix) by ClariS, showing that the speed rate is 175 and the number of feet (telling the players how much movement they need) wasn't too bad for a Master rating: 8 out of 15. And whenever Random is selected, the wheel won't move and the players are forced to play this song.

"Is this song okay, you guys?" Silver asked the girls.

"Yeah." Marine and Wave agreed, nodding their heads.

"Sure." Blaze answered.

"Alright, let's play!"

With everyone agreeing with playing this song, Silver proceeded to stomp on the X pad and ready to compete with everyone.

"You know how to play, right Blaze?" Silver asked Blaze.

"Sonic told me how to play the game." Blaze answered.

"Oh, but I do want you to look out for those long green arrows. Your feet has to remain there until the arrow ends. Just a heads up."

"Alright."

Once the music started playing, along with the announcer saying "Are you ready? Let's go!", arrows started to appear and everyone is already moving their feet to where the arrows are on the screen. Blaze luckily didn't screw up on the arrows for a moment as she somehow knew where the arrows on the pad are and successfully stepped on the off-colored arrows (oddly misplaced ones), keeping her combo streak of 10 like everyone else. She thought she was going to screw it up badly in the beginning, but it seems like she's doing pretty well for her first time playing the game. It's like Sonic said to her:

_"You'll never know until you try!"_

_ Now I know, _Blaze thought as she continued stepping on the pad, listening to where the singer should have singed (different version of the song) and not getting anything lower than a 'Great' ranking on the song. Not to mention she's still maintaining her now 50 streak combo with Marine of all people! Wave pretty much screwed up her 21 streak combo and Silver messed up on 28 due to the off-colored arrows.

"Hey Blaze! You're doing great!" Silver cheered to Blaze while he was moving to the beat. "You might be able to beat Marine if you keep this up!"

"Ooh, this ought to be fun!" Marine exclaimed, giving a little twirl while stepping on the pad. "I love a new challenge!"

"Are you saying I'm not a worthy rival for you?" Wave asked Marine.

"You are a great rival in DDR Wave, but I always look forward to meeting new rivals and competing with them! It's always exciting!"

"Then I wish for the both of you good luck. May the one with the highest score wins."

"Alright!"

"And Blaze..." Wave called out to Blaze.

"What is it?" Blaze responded, not taking her eyes off the TV screen.

"Try and beat Marine. I'd like to see someone else other than myself to beat Marine in this game." Wave muttered to Blaze in order for Marine not to catch their conversation.

"Uh... I'll try."

Well Blaze is trying very hard to be exact! She managed to hold one feet on a freeze arrow while using the other one to step on the arrows outside of the freeze arrow for a few seconds before using both of her feet again to keep track of the beat of the song. And as the song progresses further, the number of arrows, not to mention the number of freeze arrows, increased as well! All the players were stepping, or holding on for freeze arrows, on different arrows every second or two, with Blaze and Marine not screwing up any of the steps while getting either a 'Marvelous' or 'Perfect' ranking, and Silver and Wave gaining at least one 'Good' on the steps, breaking their recently obtained high combo back to zero.

Before the main chorus of the song appeared, the steps suddenly started to slow down with the music, everyone hitting three off-colored arrows per direction with a 'Marvelous'. After hitting the twelve off-colored arrows, the arrows started to move to it's normal pace, with more arrows and freeze arrows to be exact, and everyone is once again hitting the arrows on the mat like crazy; especially Marine and Blaze, having a competition on who can get the highest score in this song! And these two aren't showing signs on giving up on this 'competition'. Sure, their feet are a bit sweaty from the intense dance and had some difficulty breathing, but that's not going to stop Blaze and Marine from completing this song.

Who would have thought Blaze would do so well during her first play of DDR? Not everyone. Especially Silver.

Well, to be honest, Silver did overheard the conversation between Sonic and Blaze while he was dancing to Midnite Blaze. He heard Blaze doesn't dance, a code for 'I hate to dance', but from what he's seeing right now, maybe Blaze enjoyed dancing but kept it hidden due to 'that'. 'That' being her pyrokinesis. Maybe he should ask her...

Or right now as he messed up on the last few steps of the songs, breaking his 20 streak combo after missing at least five arrows without noticing! God, he's not going to get an impressive score after screwing up at least five to eight arrows in this song! Normally, he doesn't get one or two arrows stepped due to the awkward position they're in, but five to eight?! Man, he's really off. And if that can't get any worse, right when the music ended, Silver slipped off the pad after hitting the last arrow, landing flat on his stomach, his hands and head making contact to the wooden floor and legs still on the pad.

"You okay, Silver mate?" Marine asked Silver.

"Oh, I'm fine," Silver responded to Marine, getting back up to his feet, "I just slipped. That's all. Nothing to worry about."

"Alright." Marine nodded her head before turning to the TV screen. "Now, let's see who earned the highest score in this song!"

"And it's not me." Silver and Wave said, knowing they screwed up on the song a few times.

The results screen finally appeared, showing the total score the four players earned, along with their overall rank. Silver and Wave earned an 'A' in the song, while Marine and Blaze both earned an 'AA'. The scores for Marine and Blaze: both of them racked up 520,000 points exactly! Just... wow!

It's enough for Silver to comment, "Holy crap Blaze, you tied with Marine on your first try. That's just amazing." to Blaze.

"Why's that amazing? Besides beating the DDR champion?" Blaze wondered, remembering that Sonic called Marine the 'DDR champion' during their conversation.

"Whenever anyone faces Marine, no one can tie with Marine when facing her for the first time. Usually, they tie with her when they face her again, but your probably the first person to tie with her on your first try."

"Not to mention it's my first time playing this game." Blaze added. "Maybe just by watching you guys playing it so well, I was able-"

"To perform well without majorly screwing up. Is that right?" Silver finished Blaze's sentence.

"Yeah. That's exactly the words I wanted to say."

BRRIIINNNGGG! BRRIIINNNG!

"Oh, the phone's ringing." Silver noticed, stepping off the pad and picking up the phone left by Vector off from the table. He pressed the call button and started the call by greeting the caller, "Hello there. Who's this?"

_"At least somebody picked up this call." _the caller commented in a calm tone, which Silver recognized this voice as...

"Shadow! Why are you calling me for?"

_"It's best if someone else explains this to you instead of me."_

_ What did Shadow meant by that? _Silver thought. He later found out what Shadow meant by 'someone' else when he hears a sweet tone, greeting Silver:

_"Hello there, Mr. Venice!"_

It's Cream calling Silver! What could she be calling for anyway?

"Hi, Cream!" Silver greeted back the fourteen-year old girl on the phone. "What's up?"

_"Oh, I just wanted to say that we'll be coming to the Chaotix Orphanage a few minutes early." _Cream told Silver.

"Huh? Can you explain that?"

_"It's that our car broke down for some unknown reason, and Mr. Tails is trying to see what caused our car to suddenly stop."_

Tails is with Cream and Vanilla? Really? Silver can guess that he either has too much free time and wanted to go with the two, along with Amy, to the Chaotix Orphanage or he really wanted to get close to Cream since he knows Tails has a crush on Cream since they met when they were about 6 to 7 years old at a playground. Maybe it's both for this situation.

"And you're going to be here early because Shadow is going to Chaos Control you to the Orphanage?" Silver guessed.

_"Yes," _Cream answered, _"and if you don't mind, can Mr. Shadow join us for dinner?"_

"Of course!"

CRASH! Sounds of a flower vase and a couple of picture frames were heard breaking upstairs, and that could mean one thing. And one thing only when this happens...

"Bean, you _bata_! Get back here!" Jet yelled upstairs to his brother.

"Oh great." everyone downstairs groaned in annoyance on what's going on.

_"Mr. Venice? Is everything okay?" _Cream asked Silver.

Oops. Silver forgot he's on the phone with Cream.

"Uh... everything is fine, Cream!" Silver cheerfully told Cream in order to not let her hear the sounds of random things breaking.

_"You sure?" _Shadow questioned in the background. _"Because based on the crashing sounds coming from upstairs, it doesn't seem fine."_

_ Damn it, Shadow! _Silver cursed in his mind when Shadow figured out what's going on.

"Really! Everything will be okay!" Silver reassured Cream and Shadow on the phone. Hopefully that Sonic and Jet can get these two troublemakers under control.

Now how did this happen in the first place?!

Apparently, once Sonic unlocked the door to Charmy's room to let Bean out, the immature eight-year-old started to run amok on the second floor while freeing his partner in crime out of Marine's room. And god, Charmy can't stand Marine's room, or to be more accurate, her roommate's side of the room!

Marine's side of the room was painted a shade of light blue, with a shelf full of books, a few novels meant for people like Silver and Espio, pictures of her mom and dad hanging on the wall along with the places they've spotted, a drawer full of her clothes, a bed with dark blue sheets, and a box filled with toys (mainly pirate-related toys). Her roommate's, however, is just pink mania all over! Walls painted in the brightest pink ever, pink sheets on her bed filled with white frills, pictures of the prettiest models ripped off from a magazine, most of the pictures being Rouge from _Glitter_, and princess toys all over this side, Charmy really wanted to escape that side of the room after being in there for at least twenty seconds! But nope! Vector forced him to stay there for at least an hour.

And now that hour has finally vanished! He can escape that horrifying room and play with Bean again! Yeah! This is going to be fun!

...For the two troublemakers. For Jet and Sonic: utter hell to stop them from causing more trouble than they did before. As in, throwing random toys at the two older boys, running back and forth in the same place for a minute until Sonic and Jet are confused, and breaking more flower vases and picture frames. And Jet isn't pleased with this at all. No way.

"Uh... Did your brother ate Charmy's secret candy stash while he's at his room?" Sonic asked out of the blue, knowing this fact.

"I don't know!" Jet answered in a rude tone. "But we better stop those troublemakers before they cause more destruction."

"Agreed. So, what are your suggestions on stopping them?"

Jet responded by snapping his fingers, causing small green wings to appear on his back in just a second. He then started to leap at least five feet off the ground, causing Jet to fly in the air quickly. Not Sonic fast, but he's still fast. Jet can fly faster than Wave and Storm (who also has wings as well), but the only downside of his power is that he can only have his wings on him for only five minutes.

Yet Jet can catch Bean and Charmy in less than five minutes with the aid of these wings. Maybe a minute if Sonic catches Charmy and Jet captures his little brother. Jet swiftly dodged an upcoming stuffed teddy bear being thrown to him and spotted his brother spilling a jar of marbles to the floor. He didn't have to worry about slipping on a pile of marbles, but Sonic ended up sliding on a couple of marbles, causing the blue-haired teen to fall down flat on the floor.

"I'm cool." Sonic responded to Jet, holding a thumbs-up. "I'll catch up with you."

Jet nodded his head with Sonic's response and started to dash faster than he previously did a minute ago, and even though Bean threw a vase at his older brother to avoid in getting into more trouble, Jet didn't get any scratches or showed signs of bleeding in his body. Besides having great speed with his wings, Jet has invincibility no matter what he's been through. Slamming into a glass window and gaining no scratches at all, surviving a bullet from a gun, feeling no impact when a car hit him, and it can go on for hours that Jet can make a list on how many times he had a life threatening situation that would kill him if he didn't had those wings on. That's pretty much why there's a time limit to how long he can keep those wings and it's his back-up in case something weird happens to his Extreme Gear.

And Bean felt like an idiot on forgetting his older brother's invincibility when he had his wings on. His only response...

"Crud. I'm in trouble."

"You bet you are!" Jet yelled to Bean as he slammed towards his younger sibling, causing the two green-haired boys to slide to the ground until they're close to the stairs where everyone can see.

"Nice one!" Wave complemented to Jet.

"Salamat." Jet replied back to Wave before turning back to Bean, who's blue eyes are now filled with tears, "Now, what do you have to say to your kuya?"

"I'm sorry!" Bean cried to his brother. "Please don't tell mommy or daddy about what I've done!

"Maybe I should. You've stolen my phone, my friend's necklace, stuffed random crap in the oven, and broken a couple of things that isn't even yours! I think that not leaving the house other than for school or church for three weeks would be the appropriate punishment for-"

"KUYA JET! PLEASE!"

Not wanting to hear his little brother whine again, Jet told his brother, "Fine. But since we're having pizza for dinner, you'll only get one slice and only one. The same goes for Charmy. Got it?" Jet told Bean while they were getting back up to their feet.

"Got it."

"Good. Now where's-"

"GOT'CHA CHARMY!" Sonic screamed as he slide across the floor with his feet, with Charmy in his arms.

However, Sonic bumped into a wall while he was sliding, causing him to lose a bit of his balance, crashing onto the Hawkins brothers, and ended up tumbling down the stairs! Luckily, Silver used his psychokinesis to save the four boys, three since Jet still has his wings on, from getting any major injuries in their bodies; especially Charmy. Sure, he might be a pain in the butt to everyone in the orphanage, but that doesn't stop Silver from saving the eight-year-old from having his still short legs fractured just because he fell down the stairs. That would be just horrible.

Eventually after floating in the air for a few seconds, the four boys landed safely on the wooden floor, with Jet snapping his fingers again to remove his wings from his back.

"Thanks, Vennie!" Sonic thanked his silver-haired friend.

"No problem," Silver replied back before getting his attention back to the phone. "Now then Shadow, the problem has been quickly resolved, and you can-"

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"Hang up on me before I can finish my sentence." Silver concluded with a sigh, ending the call as Shadow hung up on him.

And Silver knows...

FLASH!

...Why.

A bright light covered the whole living room, causing everyone to cover their eyes, or in Vector's case, fall out of the couch, with their hands until the light died out to reveal Shadow, Cream, Vanilla, Amy, and Tails inside the orphanage with just about fifteen minutes to spare.

"Well, here we are." Shadow said, wiping some dirt off of his green pants before turning his head to Silver. "Oh, and I hung up in order to use Chaos Control or I'd give you an electrical shock."

Silver remembered the last time he called Shadow before he used Chaos Control. Once Shadow yelled out the phrase in order to transport anywhere his mind was thinking, Silver's phone gave him a strong shock, causing him to have a tendency to show electrical currents every ten minutes. It stopped after about three hours from the shock, and Shadow knows to always hang up on the phone before using Chaos Control to prevent having that happen to someone else.

"Right." Silver replied to Shadow. "Well, glad you guys can-"

"Oh, Sonic!" Amy squealed in joy, running towards her blue-haired crush while shoving Silver out of her way.

"Make it here." Silver finished his sentence, giving himself a soft face-palm when he witnessed Amy hugging Sonic.

But something seems off with this hug. One, Sonic isn't begging for Amy to let him breathe. Two, she didn't tackle him to the floor as the two of them are still on their feet. And three, both of them are content with the hug. Usually, Sonic complains about Amy hugging him whenever she sees him and once commented the hugs can "suck out some of the oxygen" out of someone, unlike Rouge's that can suck out most of the oxygen.

Well, that doesn't bother Silver at all since he wants Sonic to accept the hug and wants Amy to not crush Sonic to death when hugging him.

"Hey, Sonic!" Amy greeted her crush. "Didn't expect me to come here? Huh?"

"N... no." Sonic could only manage to spill out of his mouth. "To be honest, it's more like a surprise to see you. Not to mention Tails as well!" Sonic broke Amy's hug in order to see his best friend slightly having his red shirt covered with oil stains. "So Tails, what are ya doing here?"

"Uh... Vanilla and Cream asked me nicely if I can join them for dinner tonight," Tails started, rubbing his forehead, "and while going there, the car broke down and I decided to see what went wrong. It involved the engine breaking down, and it decided to give my shirt some oil once I opened the trunk."

"Bleh!"

"I know! Anyway, since I didn't bring my toolbox with me, I called my dad to check on the car for Vanilla before..."

"Shadow used Chaos Control. I got it." Sonic finished Tails' sentence for him.

"So Sonic, what have you been doing for the past few hours?"

Oh, a lot has happened to Sonic. He really wanted to tell the events that happened to him to his friends. From the pizza making to finding out Blaze possessing pyrokinesis and to the food fight that lasted for at least an hour.

"Well, the past few hours was just amazing, bro!" Sonic started, using Tails' nickname since the two are like brothers. "And what's amazing is that Blaze..."

"Has pyrokinesis." Blaze finished Sonic's sentence, walking to where Sonic, Amy and Tails are, having her right hand full of fire. "One of the rarest 'gifts' in the world."

Wait, Blaze is showing her powers to people she barely knew for a week?! Okay, she already showed her powers to those working in the kitchen, but not to the rest of Silver's friends. But Blaze knew that if Silver has accepted her powers, then his friends should accept Blaze's powers just fine.

"Wow, that's awesome!" both Tails and Amy commented on Blaze's power.

"Thanks. I used them to cook the pizzas in about thirty seconds when the oven was filled with random stuff. Including crayon wax." Blaze informed the two, with the flame now gone.

"And after that, we had a boys vs girls food fight!" Sonic added.

"What?! A food fight?" Tails and Amy exclaimed at the same time.

"Aw, and I bet it was fun as well." Amy guessed.

"Yep." Sonic and Blaze nodded their heads.

"But we'll explain this during dinner. Is that alright to you guys?" Blaze told the two.

"Sure." the two agreed.

"Besides, it'll be great if everyone is here to hear your food fight!" Amy exclaimed.

Yeah, everyone. As in, everyone who took part in the food fight and hearing how Blaze had a blast spraying whipped cream to everyone, throwing pies and using her pyrokinesis to melt marshmallows and flinging it to Sonic's cheeks, screaming and exclaiming the marshmallows burned him and tasted delicious respectively.

* * *

~Silver and Espio's Room (7:20)~

Wearing a black towel from her chest reaching down to her knees after taking a ten minute hot shower, Tikal is waiting for Espio to bring back Wave's red orb necklace so she can change her clothes since her clothes have gotten really messy from the food fight. Not to mention two other reasons! One, since Marine is the oldest orphan in here and the female helpers in the orphanage are larger than Tikal, there's barely any clothes that can fit her. And two, if she wears Espio's clothes, it'll look all baggy. So there's a few good reasons to use Wave's necklace.

But with the clothes change coming up, Tikal has to explain this to her brother about it. She isn't sure if Knuckles can believe the fact that Tikal ended up in a food fight! In his mind, those two don't go well with his innocent sister.

The door suddenly opened, revealing Espio, now wearing a black sleeveless shirt and black shorts, holding Wave's necklace in his hands and entered his room in order to give the necklace to the orange-haired girl by tossing it to her.

"Luana said it's okay for you to use it and mentions you can choose any outfit you like." Espio told Tikal.

"Really?" Tikal questioned while choosing an outfit on the orb.

"Yeah. Though it better not be too revealing or I'll get questioned by Kennith."

As in, asking 100 questions that barely gets them to nowhere at all. And it takes over three hours just to get through all of them if Knuckles isn't disturbed at all.

"I promise it won't be too revealing." Tikal nodded her head in agreement.

"Good. Now, Vanilla, Clara, Amy and Tails are here..."

"Already? I thought they would be here at 7:30."

"They were, but Shadow transported them here when the car broke down."

"Oh."

Okay, instead of having like about, maybe nine people, hearing her sing, fourteen people are going to hear her sing! Well, it's pretty small compared to 3,000 students who are going to hear her sing next week. But when will she sing?

During dinner? No.

After dinner? Maybe?

Backyard? Uh...

Tikal honestly has no idea on when she will sing in front of everyone tonight since they will either be too busy with their conversations or doing something else right after dinner such as playing DDR or Mario Kart Wii or if Amy persuades everyone in a cheery mode, karaoke. Maybe if Amy does the last one, everyone will be able to hear her voice! But that's only 'if' Amy does it, which there is a 50/50 chance that Amy will do it.

Tikal pushed the thoughts of when she'll sing and focused on what outfit she decided to wear for the rest of the evening. So far, some of these outfits range from dresses, frilly tops, very tall high heels, to the most sparkling skirts she has ever seen in her life. No wonder Wave never uses this certain app in the first place! Her mom picks out most of the clothes in here just to see if Wave will ever choose them when she needs clothes, which is never. However, Tikal founded one outfit she really thought that's really pretty and pressed the outfit on the screen in order to try it on herself.

A few seconds later after being surrounded by a light blue light, Tikal ended up in a purple shirt with a black vest, a dark blue skirt with a black belt around it, light purple flats with white socks that are three inches above the knees, and a necklace that has a ruby and sapphire jewels on the middle. She ended up looking at the mirror to see her own reaction to this outfit, and gave a little twirl with a smile once she decided to wear this outfit.

After looking at the mirror for at least a minute, Tikal turned to Espio and asked him, "How do I look?"

Espio could have said, "You look fine." to Tikal, but what came out of his mouth instead is, "You look very beautiful today."

"I do?"

"Yes."

_What the hell did I just say?! _Espio thought, face turning a slight shade of pink. He said those words because those words are true! 100% true!

Sure, she looked pretty in a dress with jeans (a habit Tikal has at times), she looked pretty yesterday with a plain white shirt and skirt, she looked pretty in the green shirt and red plaid skirt she wore a few hours ago, so why did Espio say to Tikal she looked 'beautiful' instead of 'pretty'?! It's basically because she never asked any boy, besides Knuckles, if she looked fine in any outfit. And once Espio saw what Tikal is wearing, his first thoughts were how perfect Tikal looked in that outfit. She looked pretty wearing any color, but out of all the colors Espio has seen Tikal wear, she looked really beautiful in pink, purple, or blue, but mainly purple.

"Aw, thanks Takeshi!" Tikal cheerfully replied to Espio.

"Yeah, it's no..." Espio halted his sentence when he heard Tikal called his real name differently. As in... "You forgot the '-san' in my name like you always call me."

"I... I did?! I'm sor-"

"It's kind of nice to hear that from you." Espio told Tikal in order to calm her down. "I mean, I don't get bothered by that, but I already hear 'Takeshi-san' from Vanilla and Clara at school."

"So, you don't mind it if I don't use -'san' at the end of your name?"

"Nope. Not at all."

KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Espio! Tikal! It's time to eat!" Silver called to the two.

"Okay, Venice. We'll be there in a minute." Espio told Silver. "You ready?"

"Yes." Tikal nodded her head. "Oh, and should I take off my flats since I don't want to feel awkward by being the only one wearing shoes inside?"

"Yeah."

Stupid 'no shoes inside the orphanage' rule. But Tikal already slipped off her flats next to Espio's bed and exited the room to the dining hall where everyone are going to eat pizza.

* * *

~Dining Hall (7:55)~

Sounds of the random chatter going around the hall from one kid drumming his hands on the table, causing some of the plates to move, to Bean whining to Jet that he doesn't want to eat the pizza with cucumbers, to Vector trying to act all calm on the outside when sitting next to Vanilla and having a casual conversation on how their day went, though he ended up falling off his chair when he leaned too far.

"Oh my! Mr. Vector, are you okay?" Vanilla asked Vector.

"Don't worry, Vanilla. I'm alright." Vector replied, getting back to his seat.

"You sure?"

"I lifted a hundred pounds of groceries today and my arms didn't even ache one bit. So if I handle lifting a hundred pounds, then I can deal with a little pain in my back." Vector reassured Vanilla.

Or a lot of pain in reality! But then again, he dealt with worse pain in his life, so this is nothing to Vector.

On the other table where Silver and his friends (minus Espio and Tikal who's at the kid's table to keep a close eye on Charmy) are sitting at, everybody except Shadow were laughing at the story Sonic told them about the food fight that happened at least an hour ago.

"...And when we all had cans of whipped cream, we ended up covering ourselves in not only the cream but chocolate syrup and roasted marshmallows as well!" Sonic told his friends while trying not to fall off his seat from laughing too hard.

"Roasted marshmallows?" Cream, Amy, Tails and Shadow asked Sonic, with Shadow finally being interested in the story.

"I used my pyrokinesis to heat up the marshmallows." Blaze explained to the four friends who didn't participate in the food fight. "And that's the only time I used my pyrokinesis in that fight."

"Yeah." Silver nodded his head while taking a bite from his mushroom and spinach pizza. "She threw a lot of them to Sonic because he liked them so much."

"It's true!" Sonic exclaimed, leaning backwards on his seat, but not to the point of falling down like Vector did.

"I did not!" Blaze refusing Silver's statement. "He was in the way every time I threw the marshmallows! Honest! Anyone could have gotten themselves hit with roasted marshmallows just to eat them. Think about it."

"I know! I would have done that just for the marshmallows." Tails agreed with Blaze.

"Me too!" Amy and Cream also agreed.

"What about you, Mr. Shadow?" Cream questioned the junior.

"Yes. Maybe one." Shadow admitted, taking a small bite out of his pizza.

"Point taken." Silver muttered under his breath. "But now that I think about it, I would get hit with some marshmallows just to taste them to be honest."

"Told you." Blaze said before giggling to herself.

Jeez, Blaze has never thought she would engage into a conversation like this during dinner before. Not to mention she's not with her parents but with other people. When having dinner with her parents, there's just a four to five minute conversation about how their day went at work or events that happen around the world, but besides the conversation, dinner is eaten in silence for most of the time. But here, there's a different conversation every few minutes, most of them being hilarious that will cause Sonic to fall on the floor laughing or spit out their drink on accident just to laugh. Blaze should have been finished with her pizza in about ten minutes ago, but she's not even halfway done with it when almost half-an-hour arrived! Damn those engaging yet hilarious conversations! Like the one she's in right now!

"And if that ain't enough, she played DDR for the first time in her life and tied with Marine." Silver added, grabbing another slice of pizza.

"No way! Blaze, is that true?" Amy wondered, as she knew she gotten beaten by Marine three times in a row before tying with her.

"Yes," Blaze answered before taking a bite out of her mushroom and eggplant pizza (actually taste better than it looks), "and to be honest, I thought I'd get a very low score. But somehow, I was able to get the same score as Marine."

"Wow. That's all I have to say."

"Wish I was there to see it." Sonic added who can't shake the thought of Blaze actually tying with Marine in his head.

"Me too." Cream also agreed as well. "Not to mention play DDR with everyone."

"Maybe we can play DDR after we finish the whole pizza." Tails suggested.

And to be honest, there's only about four slices of them left and Sonic might eat all of them in less than two minutes anyway, so everyone would be playing DDR, already dancing to the first song with Sonic singing some of the lyrics just to annoy Shadow. Especially that 'one' song he can't stand, not to mention dance to.

"Yea! And I'm not going to slide off the pad five times in a row during a song!" Sonic yelled, mentioning his screw-ups from about forty-five minutes ago while grabbing all of the remaining pizza slices.

"Or screw up on Max 3000." Shadow added with a smirk since he knows he can beat anyone on that song, though Marine is able to tie with him.

"Hey! We picked this song on random and I ended up have a 'D' rank on that song! I can't even get a 20 streak combo on that song!"

"Says you."

"Says everyone! Cream nearly broke her legs, Tails ended up fainting on the pad, and Amy got dehydrated on the first 50 arrows just by playing Max 3000!"

_No wonder we didn't play 'that' song earlier. _Blaze thought as she finally finished her pizza before throwing it in the black trash bag and opening her can of Coke.

"That's because they were too weak to play this song for a full two minutes." Shadow explained to his rival. "And I won while gaining an 'A' rank with no problem."

"You won because you're used to extremely fast songs like Max 3000!" Sonic complained, putting his feet on his chair. "I say we have a challenge between the two of us!"

"What kind?"

For Sonic, challenges means fast-paced and has to keep their stamina up until the very end. And the losing result is usually humiliating, though not to the extent of Knuckles' and Rouge's results for every bet they have.

"We'll do five fast-paced songs and whoever gets the worst rank between us will have pink glitter stuck in their hair for one day! How does that sound?" Sonic challenged Shadow.

"Hmm... Fine." Shadow accepted. "But let's have the others go along with our bet."

"Uh... Anyone want to join?"

"Not me." Tails refused, not wanting to have pink glitter on his hair.

"I'll play Mr. Ryan." Cream accepted Sonic's offer. "Besides, I don't mind having pink glitter stuck on my hair for one day."

"Me too!" Amy joined in as well. "And I get to play with Sonic! It's going to be fun!"

"Alright!" Sonic cheered. "Vennie, Blaze, you want to watch us?"

"No thanks, Sonic. I need to talk to Blaze about something." Silver told Sonic.

"Okay then. If you want to join us, we'll be in the living room."

Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Amy, and Cream got off of their chairs, pushing them under the tables before exiting out of the dining hall, with Sonic dashing in front of everyone while yelling, "You're too slow Shadz!" to the junior before storming out of the doors, almost knocking down Espio and Tikal who were about to leave. And of course, Shadow started to dash out of the dining hall in order to catch Sonic for calling his dumb nickname out loud! Tails face-palmed himself on Sonic calling Shadow 'Shadz' while Amy pushed the door open laughing out loud, with Cream confused on what happened before the three exited out of the hall.

With Silver and Blaze the only people left on the table, Silver scooted two seats next to Blaze, grabbing his can of Dr. Pepper with him and took a short sip from it before having his conversation with Blaze.

"So, what is it that you want to talk to me about?" Blaze questioned Silver.

"Well, it's about the question you didn't manage to answer at the library two days ago." Silver told Blaze.

Oh yeah. That question if the reason Blaze refused any help at all is because she never received any help from anyone other than her parents. That question. She didn't answer it because she hated Silver at that time. But now that she knows Silver a bit better and is starting to think he's not a bad person, Blaze feels comfortable answering that question.

"Do you remember my-"

"I do remember." Blaze reassured Silver about his question from two days ago. "Yes, I refused help on the fact that no one, not even the nicest people, helped me just because of my 'gift' and treated me like crap no matter where I was."

"That's horrible!"

"Yeah. And since people at school treated me horribly and the fact that I only feel accepted by my parents, I felt I don't need anyone's help since they'll do horrible things to me." Blaze continued, taking a light sip from her Coke before she started to get back to her answer, "And then you came into my life during Gym and decided to help me, even though my mind told me 'Don't trust him' whenever I saw you."

"I see." Silver nodded his head as he understood Blaze's answer. "Go on."

"Then yesterday at English, when I heard you say you'd do anything to make up on the incident at Gym, along with the words Sonic told me about you being the nicest person in the world, I decided to give you another chance and see if you are really nice like Sonic mentioned. And right now, he's right. You are the nicest person I've ever met."

Silver didn't expect to hear those words from Blaze at all! He thought Blaze was going to end her sentence with 'he's right'. Not to actually say what Sonic has told her! Well, Blaze didn't meet too many people who are exactly nice besides her parents, but from Wednesday to Friday, Blaze saw Silver as an annoying boy who won't leave her alone to the nicest boy ever. All that in less than a week. That's just... just amazing.

"I'm glad to hear that, Blaze." Silver replied to Blaze's complement.

"Thanks, Silver." Blaze smiled to Silver before taking another sip of her Coke. However, she noticed Silver touching her cheeks with his index finger and asked him, "Just what are you doing to my face?"

"Uh... You had some pizza sauce on your cheek." Silver told Blaze, finished wiping her cheeks, showing his finger filled with tomato sauce to Blaze.

"I didn't know I had that on me."

"Now you know."

"Do you think we should go to the living room and watch Sonic and the others play DDR?" Blaze suggested.

"Yeah, I guess we c-"

_"Cause every night, I will save your life. And every night I will be with you..."_

Silver noticed his ringtone playing at his left-pocket, which either means it's a text message or somebody calling him. He pulled his Blackberry phone out of his pocket and noticed the screen reads : "1 new text message from Ryan 'Sonic' Griffith". Really? Couldn't Sonic just tell him directly right now in person?

But whenever Sonic sends a text message to Silver, it's always private and important. So what could Sonic text about? Curious, Silver, along with Blaze, decided to read Sonic's message:

_Vennie! We heard Tikal singing in the front porch with Espio! She sounds awesome! Get to the living room ASAP!_

_-Sonic ;D_

_P.S. We're not done with the DDR bet._

Tikal. Singing? Huh? Is that really true?

Stuffing his phone back to his left-pocket, Silver and Blaze sprinted out of the room and reached the living room where they spotted all four DDR pads empty and the TV screen showing the results on the first song Sonic, Shadow, Amy and Cream played a few minutes ago. They also spotted the four DDR players, along with Tails, Jet, Wave, Marine, Bean, and Charmy peaking at the slightly opened door to listen to what's going on outside.

"Sonic," Silver attempted to call his friend, "Is what you sent me really-"

"Quiet!" everyone whispered harshly to Silver. Even Charmy and Bean were demanding Silver to be quiet!

"Just listen to Tikal's singing. Okay you guys?" Amy informed Silver and Blaze.

The two nodded their heads on what Amy told them to do, and heard the lyrics to a Korean song sunged in English.

_You're my only one way  
Only for you - I am thankful that I am next to you  
You're the only one babe  
You taught me love in this harsh world  
I am happy with you alone_

_Heaven - my only person, yes the person who will protect me_  
_Any sadness, any pain_  
_If only I'm with you_  
_I'm not jealous of anyone else_  
_Hold my two trembling hands_  
_Because the reason I live is you_

_ Man, Tikal can sing well. _Silver thought as he listened to Tikal's voice.

Every note sung perfectly with the aid of a guitar played by Espio, everyone leaned in a bit closer to hear Tikal's voice much better than in the position they're currently in. Sure, they can hear bits of it, but still, her voice sounds pleasant! Maybe her voice sounds pleasant no matter where anyone is listening at!

However, Sonic decided to go outside, which almost made Shadow grab his arm in order to not be spotted by either Tikal or Espio. Oh how Sonic will get in trouble! But to Shadow's shock, everyone else followed Sonic outside, with Shadow eventually following them, hiding on the corner of the door outside, and decided to stay here until Tikal is finished singing.

_You're my only one way  
Only for you - I am thankful that I am next to you  
You're the only one babe  
You taught me love in this harsh world  
I am happy with you alone_

_Heaven Heaven Heaven Heaven Heaven_  
_Heaven Heaven Heaven Heaven Heaven_  
_If we're together we will never cry never never cry_  
_Heaven Heaven Heaven Heaven Heaven_  
_Heaven Heaven Heaven Heaven Heaven_  
_Forever, together - never gonna be alone_  
_Oh, so alone_

Once Espio finished playing the last notes on his guitar, silence filled in the night air until Cream shouted very loudly, "Tikal, I didn't know you can sing so great!"

"Eh?" Tikal can only say as she turned around to see all of the people she has known hiding behind her. "You guys were listening to me the whole entire time?"

"Yes." they all answered.

"And like Cream mentioned, you sound amazing!" Silver complemented to Tikal.

"Amazing to try out for Homecoming Idol to be exact! You'd be perfect!" Amy exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Sonic agreed with Amy. "Wait til Knuckles hears-"

"Ryan, don't tell Kennith about this." Espio told Sonic.

"Why not?"

"Because she wants to surprise Kennith on the auditions for Homecoming Idol next week." Espio informed everyone that's currently outside. "Can you guys not tell him about this until he sees his sister actually singing?"

A moment of silence surrounded the night sky once again as everyone, even Bean, Charmy, and Marine, were thinking about what Espio has told them about the plan next week. Besides Blaze, everybody knew surprising Knuckles with anything is a difficult task to carry out, but with Knuckles having to be out for Rouge's photo shoots, this is one surprise they can actually pull off.

Soon enough, everyone said, "Yes." to the plan.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you so much!" Tikal cheered to everyone while bouncing up and down.

"No problem." Blaze replied back. "Besides, I bet your brother will have a surprised look on his face when he hears you sing next week."

"Defiantly." Silver agreed with Blaze.

"Now can we go back inside so I can beat Shadow's ass at DDR?" Sonic suggested, already dashing back inside.

"Sonic!" Shadow yelled to his rival while running back inside.

Man, this Friday for Blaze sure seemed so different. First, she was invited to visit the Chaotix Orphanage by Silver to work on their book report (which they kind of started on answering the first three questions), then helped making pizzas with everyone, showing her powers and feeling accepted from everyone, participating at a food fight and DDR, having a lively dinner with other people, and finally hearing someone singing beautifully outside. This Friday is sure hectic but awesome to Blaze.

Best Friday ever.

* * *

**Author's Note: Yea! Chapter 12 is finally here after three weeks! Again, more work from my classes! This concludes the Chaotix Orphanage visit, and we're off to Saturday in here (thought it's only one or two chapters).**

**I'll do Charmy since I need to do one about him right now! The name Charlie is German for "free man"; free from his parents that almost killed him. His last name Blythe is English for "joyous", always having a cheery attitude even if it means destruction!**

**Also, I'm going to submit a poll about this story sometime, so look out for it! [Update 10/9/2012: It's up in my profile!] Oh, and can you guess what DDR song annoys Shadow?**

**Songs used/mentioned:**

**"Rhythm and Police" by CJ CREW feat. Christian D**

**"Midnite Blaze" by U1 Jewel Style**

**"Connect" by ClariS (I'm abusing this song, aren't I?)**

**"Dreams of an Absolution" by Bentley Jones**

**"Heaven" by Ailee (stuck in my head! Beautiful song!)**

**And I'm almost up to 6000 views and 80 reviews in less than three months! This is great! If you like this sweet chapter, leave a review!**

**Until next time, Later! ;D**


	13. Just Us Girls

~(Saturday) Blaze's House: Living Room (10:45 AM)~

Dressed up in an unbuttoned plaid purple shirt with a plain white tank-top underneath, black capri pants, and purple Converse, Blaze is reading the next few chapters of Battle Royale while waiting for Amy and the others to pick her up in order to go to Beverly Hill's most popular outdoors mall: The Grove.

Now, wait. Why is she going there with the girls anyway?!

Well... Blaze remembered a conversation she had with Amy last night at the Chaotix Orphanage about plans on going to the mall. Hell, she can remember it clearly all in her head!

* * *

_~[Friday] Chaotix Orphanage: Living Room (9:00 PM)~_

_ While watching Sonic and Shadow do their fifth tie breaker in a row in order to settle the spot for first place in DDR, Blaze ended up continued reading a few pages of Battle Royale despite the shouting from the two DDR players and the loud music echoing throughout the living room when Amy plopped down on the couch, hands covered in pink glitter as she had to pour Cream's hair with said item. Amy shook her hands rapidly, some of them slowly falling down to the wooden floor or her blue shirt and brown vest, before she turned to Blaze._

_ "Hey, Blaze." Amy greeted the lavender-haired girl._

_ "Hello, Amy," Blaze replied back, turning the next page to her book, "What are you doing here?"_

_ "To watch my darling Sonic win against Shadow!" Amy answered before cheering to Sonic, "Do your best, Sonic!"_

_ "Thanks, Ames!" Sonic yelled, not taking his eyes off the screen._

_ "Is that why you came downstairs?" questioned Blaze._

_ "Nope. It's just that I want to ask you something."_

_ Blaze placed a blue bookmark on the page she's going to read in the future and placed it on the table in order to hear Amy's question. Whenever someone, usually her parents, ask her something, she stops on what she's doing in order to hear the question/request. Mainly the latter._

_ "What is it?" Blaze asked Amy._

_ "Well, I was just wondering," Amy started, fumbling with her hands, "since Tikal is running for Homecoming Idol, I thought we could go to The Grove tomorrow to find her the perfect outfit for her!"_

_ "Why would she need an outfit for an audition?"_

_ "Because every year, people decides their votes on not only how good they sing, but how pretty they look, mainly the latter."_

_ "So you want Tikal to look her best next Friday?"_

_ "Bingo!" Amy exclaimed. "And not only that, it's for you to get to know us girls a bit better!"_

_ Amy did have a point. Besides Wave and Tikal, Blaze didn't spend too much time with any of the girls outside of school, so the idea of going with them to the mall might sound like a good idea. Sure, she has some homework from her other classes, mainly English, but maybe she can hold them off until later. She can quickly finish all her homework in less than two hours anyway._

_ "So, you think you can come?" Amy offered Blaze._

_ "I guess so." Blaze accepted Amy's offer._

_ "Yea! Can you give me your address so we can pick you up?" Amy asked, pulling out her purple Blackberry phone with a heart shaped charm._

_ "Uh... 2005 Solar Avenue." Blaze told Amy her house address, hearing the pink-haired girl typing it on her phone._

_ "Okay! We'll be there somewhere before 11'o clock and Rouge will drive us. Alright?"_

_ "A... Alright, Amy."_

_ "Oh, I can't wait for tomorrow! It's going to be amazing!"_

* * *

~Blaze's House: Living Room (10:50 AM)~

DING DONG!

Hearing the doorbell echoing through the house, Blaze placed her bookmark on where she's reading and walked towards the door to see if it was Amy ringing the doorbell or not. Well, she did say that Amy and the others will arrive somewhere before 11'o clock, so it might be them. Blaze opened the door and spotted Amy, Rouge, Cream, and Tikal standing outside of the front door.

"Hi, Blaze!" Amy, Rouge and Tikal greeted Blaze.

"Hello, Miss Barbara!" Cream greeted the older teen using her real name.

"Oh, hi guys." Blaze replied back as the four girls entered the house, with everyone taking a seat on the red couch. "Uh... Why are you guys inside my house?"

"Well, since it's your first time going out to the mall with us, we might as well inform your parents about our plans so they won't freak out about your sudden disappearance before we go." Amy told Blaze.

"I see." Blaze nodded her head.

And speaking of parents, Blaze's mom and dad were walking down the steps after hearing the doorbell ringing a few seconds ago when they spotted four girls sitting on the red couch, with her dad recognizing the girls quickly since he met Tikal personally and spotted Amy, Cream, and Rouge passing by his classroom when they were getting to class. Her mom, however, didn't know these girls and assumed they're either her husband's students (or one of them) or Blaze's classmates from school. Either way, both parents wanted to know what they're doing here and if they were... Something they didn't expect for a very long time. Or didn't expect at all to be exact!

Curious, her mother asked her daughter, "Barbara, who are these girls?"

Expected this question from her mother.

"These are some of my classmates from school," Blaze explained to her parents as she started to place her hand above Amy's head, not touching the purple headband that goes along with her purple short-sleeved shirt and faded jeans with pink Converses. "Mom, dad, this is Amy Rose. A sophomore like me."

"Hi there!" Amy greeted Blaze's parents.

Blaze then moved to the white-haired model, wearing a dark red tank top that has several pink hearts in glitter with a light-blue vest, brown shorts with a magenta belt, black socks and magenta and black Sketchers. "This girl is Rouge Bayle, who's a model doing some advertisements appearing in a few magazines."

"Not to mention I'm captain of the cheer-leading squad!" Rouge added, raising her hands in the air.

"Wow, that must be a challenge for you to handle that for a girl your age." Blaze's mom commented.

"But I'm handling it just fine in my Junior year!"

"Well, I hope you remembered from your teachers that-"

"Junior year is the most difficult year in high school. I know!" Rouge reassured Blaze's mom in a relaxed tone.

By difficult, tons of work almost every single day of the week, constant quizzes and tests in every class, dealing with the AP classes, especially the AP/Dual classes, and dealing with practices if they are athletes! With Rouge, she has to deal with two AP classes while juggling cheer-leading and her modeling job all at once, it's really her 'hell' year! But despite this, Rouge is handling herself just fine!

Moving on, Blaze went to Cream, hair now in a ponytail and still covered in pink glitter from yesterday, who's wearing a light blue top decorated with flowers on the sleeve, along with a white skirt and brown sandals. "This here is Clara Robinson, but most people call her 'Cream' since she's very polite. And before you ask, she's a freshman, not a 6th grader."

Course needed to point that out.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Jewel." Cream politely greeted the purple haired parents by bowing her head.

"Pleasure to meet you too." both parents replied back.

Now Blaze placed her hand on Tikal's shoulder, who's in a plain yellow dress with a white sweater and yellow sandals decorated with beads shaped like flowers. "Lastly, this is Tikal Shard, and like Cream, she's a freshman. She has an older brother named Kennith, or 'Knuckles' as he's very tough, and not to mention he's very 'protective' over her." Blaze putting emphasis on protective for her mom and dad to understand what kind of brother Tikal has, though the emphasis is more for her mom.

"Hello there." Tikal greeted to Blaze's parents.

"Not to mention she's a great singer and is going to audition to be a nominee for Homecoming Idol next Friday. You heard of it, right dad?"

"Yes I did." Mr. Jewel nodded his head as he remembered most of his students talking about it ever since day one teaching at Emerald High School.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you all." Mrs. Jewel told to the four girls before turning back to her daughter. "But Barbara, why are they here anyway? Is it something important?"

"We're going to The Grove to get Tikal a pretty outfit for next Friday," Amy started explaining to Blaze's parents, "and we thought it would be a good idea for us girls to get along with Blaze a bit more since we met her a few day ago at school."

"So will you let me go... if that's not a problem to you guys?" Blaze requested, somewhat messing up on the last half of her sentence.

What can they just say? They never expected Blaze to out with a group of people/friends (can't decided as of now), but right now... they can obviously say 'yes' right now! One, because they really trust her deeply. And two, they wanted her to be with other people who like her for who she is, even with her pyrokinesis! And that moment just came in right now! Weirdly timed, but better late than never as they always say.

With their mind set, Mr. Jewel told his daughter, "Of course you can go."

"Really?" Blaze questioned her dad if he's really serious.

"Yes," Mrs. Jewel nodded her head, "but remember to come back home by six. No wait, maybe it should be... Err..."

"You have any idea how long we'll be at The Grove?" Blaze asked the girls.

"To be honest, I have no idea." Amy told Blaze.

"Us too." the three girls agreed with Amy.

_Wow. That's a surprise. _Blaze thought.

"Just call us so we know when you'll get back home." Mrs. Jewel decided. "Alright Barbara?"

"Yes mom." Blaze nodded her head as the four girls were getting up from the couch, with Rouge already out as she needs to start the car.

"And remember to have fun!"

As her mother made that comment, Blaze quickly gave a short wave to her parents good-bye before she exited out of her house and outside where she spotted a white Mercedes Benz car parked in the front of her house, with some music being heard since the windows were opened half-way. And inside the car is Rouge in the drivers seat (duh, she had her license since January), Amy in the front while Cream and Tikal were sitting at the back.

"What are you waiting for, sweetie? Hop on!" Rouge called for Blaze, honking the horn.

"Uh... Okay." Blaze replied, getting in the car and closing the car door before she put her seat belt on.

"Ready, girls?" Rouge asked everyone in the car.

"Yep!" all of them but Blaze cheerfully answered.

"And be careful when you drive, Rouge." Amy reminded Rouge.

_What does Amy mean by that? _Blaze questioned herself.

"Relax, Ames. I'll be careful." Rouge reassured her pink-haired friend as she pressed her feet on the gas pedal... very hard.

Eventually, the car went from 0 to 60 miles per hour, with Cream already screaming from the back.

_Oh, that's what Amy meant by careful! _

Despite getting her license eight months ago, Rouge still had problems on when it's good to speed up and when it's good to slow down! Like now! And the only reason she earned her license is because she can parallel park perfectly with no problem. She can do that but not control the speed of the car?! Yeah... And everyone in the car hopes they don't get into a car crash. Especially Tikal for an obvious reason.

* * *

~The Grove (11:00 A.M.)~

After the most horrifying ride Blaze has ever been in, the girls were finally in the front of the Grove. And from the look of the mall, it's so large! Stores from every side, an animated fountain entertaining the shoppers every fifteen minutes, a green trolley car going to somewhere, trees filled with pink flowers, lights hanging from trees to some roofs of the stores, a large statue of what seems to be an eagle (can't tell what it is to be exact), and a table with chairs and an umbrella for those who wanted to relax from the shopping. Again, huge for an outdoors mall. Sure, Blaze has been to a few malls that are relatively large, but The Grove takes it like a cake. Then again, it's her first time in The Grove, so of course she's going to have a surprised look on her face.

Finished at looking at some sights in the huge outdoors mall, Blaze turned around to see Amy and Cream taking a seat under a red umbrella, with Tikal standing behind her two friends and Rouge leaning near a pillar, checking her iPhone with pink and black studs on the back.

"...And when I meant careful, I mean don't go over 50 miles per hour in less than two seconds!" Amy scolded the white-haired model. "You nearly crashed into a car with kids! KIDS!"

"Hey! It's not my fault I tend to push the gas pedal a little hard!" Rouge replied back, now putting her iPhone back on her pocket.

"A **little**? It looked like you pushed the pedal really hard! And really, you call yourself a driver? Espio earned his license two weeks ago and he's a better driver than you!"

"Oh, very funny, Ames. At least I didn't get you guys killed." Rouge pointed out. "Isn't that something you should make you happy?"

"Yeah, I guess..." Amy sighed, "but you better be careful once we leave The Grove. Got it?"

"Got it!" Rouge told Amy. "Now then, where do you guys think we should look first for Tikal's outfit?"

"Maybe we should try Love Culture?" Cream suggested.

"Charlotte Russe?" Amy added.

Blaze could have made a suggestion, though, other than American Eagle, she can't think of any good stores to get Tikal's outfit. Jeez... If only...

DING! Wait a minute... Something good popped into Blaze's mind.

"How about we start off with the store that's closest to us?" Blaze suggested.

"That sounds like a good idea, Blaze!" Amy agreed before turning to her friends. "Does that sound good to you guys?"

"Yea!" they all answered.

"And lucky for us, we're near Forever 21!" Rouge told the girls.

Soon, all of the girls entered the store, which they were instantly greeted with lights brighter than the sun, a few plastic (or real to Blaze) chandeliers hanging at the ceiling and music booming very loudly throughout the store (Good Feeling by Flo Rida), causing Blaze to cover her ears for a few seconds. No, it's not that the song sucks, but it's because that she isn't used to the stores letting the music playing in that level. Sure, she's been to stores like Hollister and Ambercrombie & Fitch that played music in high volumes, but Blaze wonders if the speakers at Forever 21 were set to 11 out of 10! But none of the girls weren't bothered by the loud music, so maybe she'll get used to the intense volume... in ten minutes compared to five seconds for the others.

Uncovering her ears, Blaze looked at some of the clothes that were on the racks, ranging from pink frilly skirts lined up based on size to a blue tank top decorated with diamond studs on the top to a pair of dark denim jeans that are already slightly torn and a brown dress with some diamond studs on the top. Blaze didn't like the first three because they won't look good for Tikal or just didn't appeal to Blaze at all due to her different taste of fashion, but the brown dress seemed to be pretty yet simple. Just like the dress Tikal is wearing right now. She grabbed the dress out of the hangers (size small since she doesn't know Tikal's dress size) and wanted to give it to Tikal, who's now looking at a black glittering top with Cream and Amy.

However, before Blaze can show the dress to Tikal, Rouge rushed to Tikal, carrying what seems to be a whole load of shirts, skirts, dresses, and shoes! There's ought to be... maybe seventeen items Rouge is carrying! Holy crap! And it's only been about two minutes since they entered the store, and Rouge manages to find that many clothes?

Well, Rouge has known Tikal for almost ten years, so she obviously has to know Tikal's taste in fashion and the same thing for the younger Shard sibling.

"Okay Tikal, I found a few stuff for you to try on!" Rouge exclaimed.

"Few? More like a mountain load." Amy commented. "It's going to take at least two hours just to try every combination as possible."

"I agree." Tikal nodded her head. "Besides, I think some of these clothes are just too... I don't know how to say it without hurting your feelings Rouge. But they're just a bit... too flashy to be honest."

Rouge looked back at the clothes she picked out, and she realized Tikal is right! More than half of the outfits were filled with glitter or diamond studs all over. Rouge thought that a bit of glitter would help since she has rarely seen Tikal wearing any outfits that involves glitter. Apparently, that looks like a good idea... on paper.

"But are there any clothes you like?" Rouge asked Tikal after throwing away the glittering clothes.

"Yes." Tikal nodded her head, already grabbing a black halter top with a ribbon wrapped around the middle, a red blouse with ruffles, a white skirt, a belt with a yellow flower, and a pair of brown flats (the only non-high heeled shoes Rouge has).

After choosing the clothes from Rouge on her own, Tikal told the model, "I'm gonna try them on. Okay?" while holding the clothes.

Instead of an "Okay" from Rouge, she ended up hugging Tikal tightly while exclaiming very loudly, "HELL YES! I can't believe it! You're choosing your own clothes without asking me if they're okay! My darling little Tikal is growing up!"

"Rouge! Let her go!"Amy demanded the white-haired model.

"Pl... please?" Tikal manage to squeak out to Rouge still hugging her. Jeez, almost ten years since she knew Rouge but she still can't handle her hugs?

"Sorry, sweetie." Rouge apologized as she let go of Tikal. "You can go on-"

"Wait!" Blaze called out to Tikal before the orange-haired girl took a single step to the dressing room. Once she saw that Tikal hasn't moved yet, Blaze walked close to Tikal, carrying the dress she has chosen and said, "I thought this would look good on you. But I'm not sure if it's your size since-"

"Oh, don't worry. You've gotten my dress size correct. And of course I'll try it on! It does look pretty."

After that comment, Tikal ended up entering the dressing room all by herself, with one of the employees giving her a number tag based on the number of clothes she's trying on (five), while the rest of the girls were scanning their eyes on a few tops, skirts, shorts, and dresses on the sales rack, with Amy grabbing a dark blue tank top with ruffled layers and a black skirt, and showing it to Blaze.

"Amy, why are you showing the clothes to me instead of Tikal?" Blaze asked the rose-haired teen.

"It's not for Tikal. It's for me." Amy explained to Blaze.

"Huh? I thought we're getting an outfit for Tikal, not you."

"I know, but since Tikal is getting an outfit for next Friday, I think it's fair if all of us got an outfit for Friday as well."

"Why?"

"During Homecoming Idol, since it's somewhat set up like American Idol or The X-Factor, everybody dresses up pretty even if they're part of the audience. So we want to stand out when Tikal sings."

"I see." Blaze nodded her head before giving her opinion on Amy's intended outfit. "Hmm... I do like the top, but the skirt seems to be a bit too much in my opinion. Makes it..."

"Look dark, is that correct?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Mental reminder to myself, don't wear too dark colors. Now, what about you?"

"Me?"

"Yes, you darling!" Rouge suddenly popped into the conversation, carrying a floral pattern halter top on her hands. "You certainly can't be dressed in a shirt and jeans next Friday. Right?"

"Uh..."

Honestly, Blaze wanted to say 'yes' to Rouge's question, but didn't since she doesn't want to make Rouge a bit disappointed.

"Don't worry, Miss Barbara. It won't be too revealing. We promise." Cream reassured Blaze.

"Yeah!" Amy and Rouge agreed with Cream at the same time.

As they were cheering, an employee in her early 20s walked up to the group of girls and told them, "Excuse me, do you know a girl named Tikal?"

"Yes mam. We do." Cream replied to the young employee.

"Well then, she requested that you four go into the dressing room and give your honest opinion on her clothes."

"Oh yeah! I want to see how my darling Tikal looks!" Rouge exclaimed, rushing to the dressing room, with the remaining three girls trailing behind her in order to catch up with the model.

Luckily, all four girls ended up in the dressing room in less than ten seconds, taking a seat on a white pads they have for the customers to wait for a certain person to show their outfit without them being crowded on one stall.

One of the stall doors ended up opening, and out Tikal came wearing the black halter top with the white skirt and brown flats, with the belt at the skirt.

"How do I look?" Tikal asked the girls.

"You look lovely!" Cream commented cheerfully.

"Gorgeous!" Rouge exclaimed.

"Uh..." both Amy and Blaze were stuck on what to say. Sure, the outfit looked pretty, but...

"Is something wrong?" Tikal asked Amy and Blaze.

"The belt seemed to be off." Amy pointed out.

Right. Black and white goes together very well, but black, white and yellow? No.

"It looks great, but you seemed to be uncomfortable with the skirt. Is that correct?"

"Yes. Even without the belt, it feels tight, and I hate to wear tight clothing." Tikal told the girls. "So the skirt is out."

"Did you try the red blouse?" asked Rouge.

"I did, but it showed too much of my chest."

"Oh. Then try on the brown dress. Okay?"

Tikal nodded her head before getting back to the stall in order to change into the brown dress Blaze picked out for her, and while waiting, Rouge's phone ended up ringing to "This Machine", and picked it up after realizing it's 'him'. As in Knuckles!

"Bonjour! Rouge speaking." Rouge greeted the older Shard sibling.

_"Rouge! Don't you 'bonjour' me! Where the hell are you?!" _Knuckles yelled to Rouge loudly at the phone, so loud that some people turned to Rouge, wondering where that noise came from.

Crap, Rouge forgot that she had this call on speaker.

Ah well. She'll remember it next time.

"Oh, at The Grove with the girls, Knucklehead." Rouge answered Knuckles' question.

_"Why?!"_

"Getting Tikal some new clothes. Duh!"

_"Is that why Tikal was missing this morning?!"_

Jeez. Whenever it's the weekend, Knuckles has a tendency to sleep at a weird time than usual (usually 2 AM) and doesn't wake up til 11 AM, where everyone is usually up! And judging the way Knuckles is talking on the phone, he recently woke up... eight minutes ago according to the clock.

"Yes."

_" God damn it, Rouge! I nearly wrecked the house just to find her! Do you know how worried I was?!"_

"I know, but Tikal didn't want to wake you up since she knows you wanted to relax during the weekend."

_"Just don't do it again. It nearly gave me a heart attack."_

"Promise, Knucklehead." Rouge nodded her head. "And remember, I have to model products from Victoria's Secret, and it's going to be from noon to five. Be there. Okay?"

_"WHAT?!" _Knuckles once again yelled at the phone, only there's sounds of Knuckles punching a random object out of rage after hearing 'that' news. _"There's no way in hell I am going to watch you doing that sh-"_

"Shoot, Knucklehead. Watch your language, will ya?" Rouge requested Knuckles before ending the call.

Overhearing the conversation, Amy, Cream, and Blaze couldn't help but laugh at what happened during Rouge's call, with Amy giggling the loudest out of the three.

"I can't believe what you did!" Amy managed to say while laughing.

"Are you really modeling Victoria's Secret's products?" Blaze asked Rouge, hoping she's not kidding.

"I am." Rouge answered quickly.

Nope. She's serious.

"But aren't you going to wear..." Cream stopped mid-sentence since she didn't want to say 'those' words.

"Yes. But I'm going to pose for two bras and the rest are just hoodies and yoga pants."

"Oh."

Shortly after, Tikal came out of the stall and is out wearing the brown dress, still wearing the brown flats. And god, she looked gorgeous in that dress! It shows off her curves perfectly, not showing a lot of cleavage but only a small bit, and makes her small and slender legs look like a model's! Maybe like Rouge's! Smooth and slender.

"Perfect!" all the girls complemented.

"You think so?" Tikal asked the girls.

"Of course!" Cream replied. "It's a great dress for you! Everyone will love it!"

"Yeah!" Amy agreed with Cream.

"Who knew Blaze has great taste in clothes." Rouge commented, looking at Blaze.

"I... I just liked the dress just because it's plain yet pretty." Blaze informed the girls her reason on why she chose the brown dress.

"Pretty enough for us to buy it!" Rouge cheered in excitement. "By the way, how much is the dress?"

"Uh..." Tikal looked at the price tag of the dress, and told Rouge, "About $26."

"Great! That means we can afford it!"

"Yea! I found my Homecoming Idol outfit!" Tikal squealed with joy...

"Actually, we found your Homecoming dress."

"Eh?" and then the squealing ended... Or should it continue...

"While the dress looked absolutely gorgeous on you sweetie, it looked too gorgeous for an audition but perfect for a Homecoming dress, so we found it... a whole lot early..."

"I see. And how about the flats?"

"We'll get that as well. And don't worry, I'll pay for it."

"In the mean time, take off the dress and flats, and we'll figure out which store we'll go next. Okay?" Blaze advised a plan on what they're going to do next.

"Sure." Tikal agreed as she entered the dressing stall once again to get her Homecoming dress payed for.

Oh well... At least Blaze founded Tikal something that makes her look beautiful.

* * *

~Charlotte Russe (11:50 A.M.)~

Scrolling through the various of tops and skirts that are on sale for either forty to seventy percent off, Blaze pulled off a red short-sleeved shirt (sleeves were hanging) from the hanger and thought that since red looks good on her according to her mom, she should try it on and see what Amy thinks.

Wait, huh? What about the others?

Apparently, after shopping at Forever 21, the girls checked out other stores such as American Eagle, Guess, Hollister, and Bloom for Tikal's audition outfit, not to mention outfits for themselves, but no luck in any of these stores. By the fifth store, the girls decided to separate for a while and meet at Chick-fil-A for lunch at one o'clock. Blaze is with Amy while Cream, Tikal, and Rouge were at a different store (might be Express).

And speaking of Amy, she finished trying on a light orange top and a black skirt in the dressing room, and put back the orange top back on the racks neatly, unlike most of the clothing that are scattered around.

"Stupid orange top keeps shows too much of my chest," Amy commented, looking at some of the tops that are on sale. "Any luck on your outfit?"

"All I found is this top," Blaze told Amy while showing the red shirt to her, "and I'm still debating if I should wear a skirt or pants."

"A skirt would do since it'll show most of your legs." Amy suggested, pulling out three tops and a magenta skirt from the racks. "I mean, besides now, you haven't shown that much of them."

Oh yeah. The capri pants Blaze is wearing reveals at least parts of her legs, covering at least half of her knees.

"I guess..." Blaze agreed with Amy. "I haven't worn a skirt for a long time."

Last time being when Blaze was twelve. Three years ago.

"Alright. Maybe this skirt would do!" Amy said, throwing the skirt she has found to Blaze. "Besides, it'll look great with that red top."

"It does." Blaze agreed with Amy. She had to admit, when she put the two items together, they blended very well. Now how would it look when she actually tried it on?

"Great! Because everyone will love it! Especially Silver."

"Eh? What do you mean?" Blaze asked, confused on what Amy meant.

"Okay. I'm going to ask you a tiny question to you that involves him."

"And that tiny question is...?" Blaze wondered.

"Do you like Silver?"

Four words. Four. Freakin'. Words. That's all it took for Blaze to drop the clothing items flat on the floor, enough to have her amber-eyes grow wider than ever, and for her face to blush a bright shade of red. God...

"Uh..." And now Blaze can't come up with an answer for Amy!

"So you do like him, am I right?" Amy assumed, seeing her friend blushing.

"Well... It's just that... It's just that I'm just starting to like him as a friend! That's all!" Blaze blurted out her answer while picking up her fallen clothes she's going to try on.

"Oh, I see. Maybe as time goes by, you two will grow into becoming more than friends."

"Eh?"

"Trust me. It'll happen."

Become more than friends? As in... Silver and Blaze a couple?!

_No way._ Blaze laughed in her thoughts as she's about to enter the dressing room stall and taking off her plaid shirt, along with the white tank-top before removing the red top from the wooden hanger and started to put it on. After that, she removed her shoes and capri pants in order to try on the magenta skirt Amy recently gave her. Surprisingly, Blaze thought the skirt is going to be a hassle to put on, but it isn't since it hugs her hips perfectly; not to tight or loose. Just perfect.

Looking at the mirror once, Blaze's outfit looked completely perfect! She obviously didn't look like the way she normally dresses (shirt and pants that are either a big baggy or torn) or didn't dressed in a style like Sally, Mina, or Fiona does. Blaze gave a little twirl before looking at the mirror again to brush off the loose strands of her hair on the shirt and fix her skirt a bit before showing the outfit to Amy.

KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Blaze, are you finished trying on the outfit?" asked Amy.

_Perfect timing. _Blaze thought, opening the stall with her outfit, now back in her black Converse, and witnessed Amy's mouth drop wide on how amazing Blaze looks in that outfit. How can Amy describe it in words?

"Holy crap, you look dead amazing in that outfit!" Amy complemented Blaze.

"Thanks." Blaze replied back. "So, we're getting this outfit?"

"Yea we are! And are you going to pay for it?"

"Yes. I brought at least $200 with me, and the outfit together cost about $20, so it'll be fine."

"Great! We'll leave this store once I see if this top fits me." Amy told Blaze, carrying a mint green top, with the bottom having a little frill with a bit of glitter.

With the plan set up, Blaze entered back to the stall to change back into her regular clothes while Amy started to walk straight to the empty stall that's next to where Blaze is currently at. However, before Amy can enter the stall, the top ended up being snatched harshly from her hands. Harsh enough to make her hands bleed a little bit due to the sharp black nails. Noticing the rose-haired teen is injured, Blaze, now back into her plain clothes, rushed towards Amy, pulling out a white handkerchief from her left pocket to wipe away the blood from Amy's hand. Luckily, the blood didn't drip on the white tiles when the bleeding happened. Thank god.

"Are you okay, Amy?" asked Blaze.

"Just fine. It's only a little scratch." Amy answered to Blaze's question.

"God, what happened to you?"

"Somebody snatched the top I was going to try out, harshly to be honest, and the next thing I knew, I was bleeding!" Amy explained the story while Blaze is rubbing the red liquid off of Amy's hand.

"Who would do that anyway?"

"Well, well well, girls. Look who it is." a voice familiar to the girls said.

And that voice was...

Fiona, holding the mint green top she has stolen from Amy. And besides Fiona were Sally and Mina, hands on their hips with a vicious smile to the two girls.

"Nice to meet you again." Sally greeted the girls in a sarcastic tone.

"Yeah. Aren't you happy to meet us again, losers?" Mina viciously asked while swishing the sides of her hair.

Hell no Blaze isn't happy to see those girls again. And neither is Amy.

* * *

**Author's Note: God, this took a while to write, but at least it's finished (and shorter than the last two chapters). And I'm leaving you on a cliffhanger! So, what's going to happen next? You're just going have to wait and find out!**

**Oh, and there's no new names I'm going to explain (sorry), but I can give you a fun fact about the story. While writing the part on the girls going to Forever 21, the song "Good Feeling" by Flo Rida came on, and I decided to put it there (was on accident, but it works!).**

**Also, I had to do RESEARCH on the mall they went since I don't live in Beverly Hills! And based on the pictures, I really wanted to go there. Plus, writing Rouge in this chapter was so much fun! Especially 'that' phone call.**

**And remember to check out the poll about the Gray Flame boys I have up on my profile! Anyone is free to vote! Not sure when I'll close it, maybe mid-December.**

**Anyway, if you liked this chapter, please feel free and leave a review! The second part to the girl's shopping day will come up in the distant future!**

**Until then, later! ;D**


	14. Friends Like Them

Stuffing the blood covered handkerchief in her left pocket, Blaze stood up and crossed her arms together before looking at the girls, laughing at what they did to Amy, not caring that they made her bleed. That's just plain disgusting for Blaze. And the way these mean girls dressed made Blaze want to burn them even more.

Sally, her hair now let down, is dressed in a pink strapless top with various of lines in different colors, extremely short shorts that barely covered her entire butt cheeks, and pink high heels with the thinnest stiletto heels Blaze has ever seen. Bleh!

Mina sported a black tank top, showing off her cleavage like she did Thursday, a pair of dark blue denim skinny jeans, and red sparkling flats. At least Mina didn't dress **too** bad like Sally or Fiona.

And speaking of Fiona... Oh god! Where can Blaze start to describe Fiona's attire? A yellow crop top that shows a lot of her cleavage, a very short blue skirt to show off her thin legs once again, and red stilettos that looks like it can pierce into somebody's heart easily with just a kick.

Overall, these three girls dressed like complete sluts, and of all places, a mall! As in, there's some kids in here and will be asking their parents, "Why are these girls dressed like Ke$ha or Lady Gaga?", with the parents answering to them to just ignore these girls. And they're right.

The laughter from these three mean girls eventually died out before looking at Blaze and Amy straight in the eyes, mainly the former's eyes.

"Well? Aren't you girls so ecstatic to see us again?" Fiona repeated Mina's question, this time a bit louder and harsher.

"As if!" Amy responded, now up on her feet again. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"And why did you steal the top Amy was going to try on?!" Blaze asked Fiona.

"Isn't it obvious? We're finding an outfit for Friday," Fiona answered to Amy's question. "Oh, and I took this top from Rosie because it'll make her look like a obese potato if she tries it on."

Crap. Hearing this comment from Fiona made Amy burst into rage! Amy was about to reach into her heart diamond from her headband in order to give Fiona and the girls a smacking they truly deserve from her hammer, but Blaze grabbed Amy's hands to prevent her from getting it.

"Blaze! Let go of me so I smash these bitches!" Amy demanded to Blaze.

"And get us into big trouble? I don't think so!" Blaze refused.

"Yeah, Rosie. Listen to the **Disgusting Flaming Monster**!" Sally suggested, putting emphasis on the horrible nickname, with Blaze cringing on that name. "Leave us alone so you won't get in trouble."

"And get yourself a new top while you're at it. Maybe one that doesn't make you look like a fat-ass," Mina added before she laughed, along with Fiona and Sally.

Amy's mouth clenched tighter than before after hearing that comment about her weight. Ooh, how much she loathed Fiona and her posse to call any girl 'fat' just because they aren't skinny like them. That's just ridiculous. And she really wanted to smack those girls so freakin' bad, it'll take them weeks just to get their faces fixed back to the way it was.

However, the mean girl's laughter ceased when a girl with long platinum blond hair wearing a light blue top with puffy short sleeves, a blue plaid skirt, white socks that's reaches up to three inches above her knees and blue flats came walking towards the girls. And since that girl is also wearing a pink ID necklace, all five girls knew she works here and might have the conflict they were having a few seconds ago. Now this girl is going to attempt to fix resolve this conflict.

That is, if she cares...

"Excuse me ladies," the girl started her sentence, "is there something going on?"

"Yes! That girl was about to steal the top I was going to try on!" Fiona falsely acclaimed, pointing to Amy.

"She's lying!" Amy told the Charlotte Russe employee.

"Nu-uh I'm not!"

"Yes you are lying," the girl said to Fiona and her posse, now crossing her arms.

Oh, she does care.

"Wha-?!" Fiona, Sally and Mina were just speechless on what this employee just said to them.

"But... but how did you know that we were lying?!" asked Mina.

"Because I've overheard the conversation between you girls, not to mention you stealing the top from this pink haired girl was about to try on and making fun of her weight," the employee pointed out her reasons to the mean girls. "Is that correct?"

"Uh..."

"If you don't answer to my question, I'm going ban you three from this store for a month!"

Not wanting to give up on shopping this store for a single month, Fiona threw the mint-green top to Amy before muttering to both her and Blaze, "You got lucky this time." and exited out of the dressing room, swishing her hips side to side. Sally and Mina later followed their red-haired friend, tossing the clothes they were going to try on in the air, which the employee caught with ease. After that short talk was over, the employee sighed with relief, putting the thrown clothes near a cushion on a seat before facing Amy and Blaze.

"You girls okay?" the employee asked the girls.

"Uh... Yeah..." Amy nodded her head. "Thank you."

"It's no problem. I just can't stand these types of girls who put down others just because of how they look. It's stupid, right?"

"Very stupid," Blaze agreed with the employee. "And again, thanks for getting those mean girls to leave... Um..."

How Blaze wishes she knows this employee's name so she can thank her properly!

"Maria."

"Eh?"

"My name is Maria Roth if you would like to know," Maria introduced herself to Blaze and Amy.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Maria!" Amy exclaimed, shaking Maria's hand. "My name is Amy Rose and this here is Barbara Jewel, but most people call her 'Blaze'."

"Nice to meet you girls as well. And if you need anything else, just call me. Alright?"

"Sure-"

"_I love you baby! And if it's quite alright, I need you baby..."_

_ I really need to change my ringtone, _Amy thought in her mind as she pulled her phone from her pocket.

It's not that Amy hates the song, but it's the fact that it's not the song anyone would hear as a ringtone. And the only reason Amy has this song as her ringtone is that it's beat so catchy and the fact the lyrics were meaningful to Amy, connecting to her and Sonic. That is, if they ever get together. But even if they're just friends or get turned into a couple eventually, this could be their theme song and would either sing to it or dance to it whenever it's playing anywhere. That could be so great if that happens.

Amy soon eventually pressed the call button, and started her phone call with, "Hello?"

_"Hey there, Ames!" _Rouge greeted her friend cheerfully.

"Oh, hey there Rouge. What is it? Did you find Tikal's outfit for Homecoming Idol?"

_"Yes we did! Along with my outfit and Cream's outfit!"_

"And where did you found it?"

_"From a new store called Sweetheart Styles." _

"Really? You've got to take me there the next time we visit The Grove."

_"Sure thing. Now, did you guys found your outfit for Homecoming Idol?"_

"Blaze has found her outfit, but I haven't."

_"How come?" _asked Rouge.

Should Amy tell this story to Rouge? Hmm... Maybe she should.

"Well, while I was going to try some clothes on, Queen Bitch and her friends showed up in Charlotte Russe and not only made me bleed but snatched a top from me!" Amy told the story to Rouge.

_"WHAT?!" _Rouge yelled at the phone in anger. _"Are you freakin' serious?!"_

"Yes."

_"Ooh, wait til I get my hands on-"_

"But all of a sudden, an employee named Maria Roth totally stood up against these girls and told them to tell the truth or else they'll get banned in here for a month!"

_"No way! That's just-" _

However, Rouge stopped mid-sentence when Amy mentioned 'Maria' on the phone. That name 'Maria' to Rouge sounded familiar to her. Why?

"Rouge? Is something wrong?" Amy asked Rouge with a worried tone in her voice.

_"Did you say Maria?" _Rouge suddenly questioned Amy.

"Yes."

_"Tell me, does she have platinum blond hair, sky blue eyes and pale skin?" _

Amy turned her head to see Maria, who's now talking to a few customers, and the rose-haired girl answered, "Yeah she does. Why are you asking me these questions Rouge?"

Silence followed up after Amy answered Rouge's question. And whenever Rouge stays silent for more than twenty seconds, it can only mean one thing. And that one thing isn't pretty.

Noticing Amy on the phone, Blaze walked towards her and asked, "Amy, who are you talking to?"

"Rouge," Amy answered, "and somehow, she's not responding back after I answered her question."

"Why's that?"

"Don't know," Amy shrugged before getting back on the phone. "Rouge, are you-"

Before Amy can finish her sentence, Rouge ended up screaming, _"Oh my freakin' god!"_

That not-so pretty thing is Rouge screaming extremely loud that no matter where Rouge is, she'll yell so loud that everyone can hear her screams. Hell! It might be powerful enough to make a hall of mirrors break in less than two seconds! Luckily, Amy covered her ears on time to avoid the screams, but Blaze, not knowing about Rouge's loud yelling, ended up dropping her outfit to the floor since she used her hands to plug her ears. And the same thing goes for those currently at Charlotte Russe! Customers, employees, and even those outside of the store covered their ears from Rouge's yelling.

The loud noise eventually died out for a few moments, with everyone uncovering their ears and continued on what they were doing prior to this shock.

Wondering why Rouge yelled so loud, Amy hastily asked Rouge, "Why did you randomly yelled in not only my ears but almost everyone's ears?!"

_"Well, I know it may seem stupid but can you invite Maria over for lunch?" _Rouge asked a favor for Amy.

"What? Why?" both Amy and Blaze said at the same time.

_"Just do it. Okay?"_

"Uh... Sure."

And with that, the call ended and Amy ended up putting her cell-phone back in her pocket before walking towards the closest dressing room stall with her clothes.

"Well that was a weird call. Wasn't it, Blaze?" Amy questioned Blaze who's standing outside of the dressing stall.

"It was," Blaze nodded her head in agreement to Amy's statement. "I mean, we've only met Maria just a few minutes ago and Rouge suggested we should ask her to join us for lunch?"

"Maybe Rouge knows Maria. That could be it."

_Yeah, that's a high possibility, _Blaze thought to herself.

"And since it'll take me a while to try on these tops, why don't you ask Maria to come along with us at Chick-fil-A," Amy suggested.

"What?!"

"Come on. It's simple. Just tell Maria why you're inviting her and maybe she'll say yes."

Knowing she can't back out of this, Blaze sighed deeply before going to where Maria is. To be honest, this small task may seem easy for Amy, but to Blaze: difficult. Communicating with others isn't her thing, and the fact she barely interacted with others, especially her gender, doesn't help at all. And now she has to invite a girl who she just met to lunch? Somebody drag her away right now! But it's too late to have that wish granted as Maria noticed Blaze walking towards her and stopped setting up a pile of dark blue skinny jeans on the shelves.

"Blaze, is there anything I can do for you?" Maria asked the lavender-haired teen.

"Uh..." Blaze started in a nervous tone.

_Come on! Just say "You want to join us for lunch?" and it'll be over like that! Just do it! _Blaze thought, not noticing she's clenching onto her outfit very tightly.

"Well... I just wanted to ask you if you can..." Blaze started her sentence.

"If I can what?" Maria repeated the phrase.

"If... Uh..."

Oh come on! Blaze just had her answer all planned out and in the last second, her mind decided to shut down for a moment, erasing what she's going to say! And this isn't the first time that happened. It happened a lot of times more than Blaze can count. It happened when she's speaking in front of a lot of people, when she's trying to tell her parents about something really badly, and even when ordering a dish at a restaurant (they rarely go out to eat)! And now it's happening again; only a lot faster than usual! Oh god. Why must this happen?!

Now instead of asking Maria to lunch with her, Blaze instead said, "You know what, forget this ever happened. I'm sorry." before walking away from the confused blond.

_Damn it! I screwed up big time! _Blaze yelled in her thoughts as she walked back to the dressing room, sitting down at the cushions in order to wait for Amy to be finish with her trying on her clothes. She wonders how Amy will react to this.

And now she gets to know right now as Amy walks out of the dressing stall, carrying all three tops and the black skirt, though she returned the blue glittery top and the yellow blouse to the racks and decided to keep the mint-green top and the black skirt. Once she's finished with that, Amy turned to Blaze and asked her the question she did not wanted to hear:

"So, did you ask her?"

"Err..." No point in lying right now. She might as well spill out the truth. "No... I didn't."

"What?! It's so simple!"

"In my head, that is. But when it comes to actually doing it, I blank out!"

"You blank out on six simple words?"

"Y...Yes..." Blaze answered shamefully.

"Oh well, I guess I'll just ask Maria myself."

"And what is it that you're trying to ask me anyway?" Maria asked the two behind them, causing the two sophomores to gasp in surprise; not expecting Maria to be there at all.

"M... Maria! Hey there!" Amy greeted the blond. "I was going to ask if you want to join us for lunch. That is, if you have the time to be exact."

"Why?"

"Because one of my friends, Rouge, asked me-"

"Wait, you know Rouge Bayle?" Maria interrupted Amy.

"Uh... Yea," Amy nodded her head, along with Blaze.

"Oh my god! I know her! We were neighbors back then before she moved when she was six!" Maria exclaimed. "I would love to join you guys! It would be great to see Rouge again!"

"Great!"

"So, when are we going to have lunch?"

Already finding their outfits for Friday, Amy answered, "Once we purchase these clothes, we'll go."

"Okay. Just follow me to the registrar so you can pay for these clothes."

With the plan set, the two girls followed the blond employee to the registrar quickly in order to meet up with the rest of the girls at Chick-fil-A. The only thoughts both Amy and Blaze had is how Rouge will react when she is reunited with her friend from ten years ago.

* * *

~Chick-fil-A (12:30 P.M.)~

"Oh my god! It is you, Maria!" Rouge squealed in joy as she hugged the blond tightly, not caring if a few people were looking at the six girls all weirdly, sitting in a round table with six chairs (originally had five but Rouge pulled an extra chair). "It's so nice to see you again!"

"Nice to see... you... too... Rouge..." Maria managed to say as she's about to lose oxygen just by being hugged by Rouge. Ten years since she last saw Rouge, and her hugs are still as 'deadly' as ever.

"Miss Rouge, please let Miss Maria go! She needs to breathe!" Cream politely demanded Rouge.

Looking at her old friend's face, Rouge soon released Maria from her hug and said, "Whoops. Sorry about that, Maria." before she started to eat her Caesar salad and looked at Amy and Blaze with her aquamarine eyes growing wide as she wanted to hear the story Amy told before. "So, tell me what else happened at Charlotte Russe you didn't told me at the phone."

"The part about Fiona and Mina calling me fat," Amy said before taking a bite of her chicken sandwich.

"But you're not fat at all, Amy," Tikal pointed out. "Why would they do that?"

"To make everyone feel bad about themselves. That's why."

"And that's the part where Amy wanted to kill them for that comment," Blaze added to the story. "Though she didn't since we'd get in trouble if we did."

"But it'll be so worth it if I did pummeled them with my hammer!" Amy exclaimed.

As in, send them to the hospital for at least a month or two. That would be the best thing that can happen to the girls. No wait. The whole school at least!

"Whoa," Cream, Tikal and Rouge commented.

Wanting to change the topic, Rouge cleared her throat, turned her head to Maria, and started to speak. "So Maria, what have you been doing for the past ten years?"

"Oh, I've been studying really hard to become a scientist like my grandfather, became friends with a boy named Shadow Midnight-"

"You knew Shadow?!" everybody except Blaze asked Maria.

"Yes. We were very close friends ever since I met him at the planetarium when I was seven, but three years after that, Shadow moved to another neighborhood due to an accident that involved a gun shooting and that's the last time I saw him," Maria explained to the girls.

"Oh, sweetie, I'm so sorry to hear that," said Rouge, letting her plastic fork fall into the plastic container that's full of her salad.

"I didn't know Mr. Shadow went through that," Cream added.

It's true. Ever since Shadow moved into the neighborhood Rouge and Knuckles lives in, nobody has known a lot about him; not even Rouge or Sonic knows Shadow very well. But hearing this information from a girl who knows Shadow very well has brought up tons of questions in their head about the mysterious red-eyed teen. Questions like: Did Shadow had a happy childhood or a miserable childhood? What kind of friends did he had? Did he had a tantrum? Was he a violent kid? So many questions asked, yet all of them left unanswered. Maybe Maria can tell them more about Shadow if they ask nicely.

"Well there's a little fact you know about Shadow," Maria said before taking a sip of her Coke.

"Anything else?" Rouge wondered.

"Um... I'm about to transfer to Emerald High School sometime this week since I moved to a new neighborhood that's close to where my grandfather works."

"Really?! That's awesome!" Rouge cheered happily before she once again started to hug Maria tightly, though not too tight like the last time. "I can't wait to see you in Emerald High! I promise you, it's going to be amazing!"

"Same thing as well," all the girls added as well.

"Then I can't wait as well," Maria concluded before she was released from Rouge and continued eating her lunch.

"Speaking of which, while we're in the topic of school, can we see what we've bought to wear for Homecoming Idol?" Amy requested, pulling the pink plastic bag that has Charlotte Russes' logo.

"Oh yeah! Sure thing!" Rouge agreed to Amy's idea before asking the two freshman girls, "What do you say?"

Both Cream and Tikal nodded their heads as they pulled out of the bags that contained their outfits for Friday, along with Rouge and Blaze. Soon, Amy and Blaze revealed their outfits to all the girls, hearing comments on how cute and gorgeous it looks by itself. If they think that's gorgeous, wait til they see them actually wearing it on Friday.

Cream was the first to show her outfit out of the three girls who shopped at Sweetheart Styles, and everybody's mouth, especially Amy's, dropped wide in awe on how her outfit looked like. A purple v-neck top with chiffon short sleeves and a jean skirt with some studs on the left pocket that's shaped like a star. This is nothing like Cream's usual style: simple yet cute. This outfit just replaced the word 'cute' to Cream's fashion sense: simple and **beautiful**!

Rouge was the next one to show her outfit. The outfit was a blue casual dress with sleeves that are slightly puffy and some ruffles on the neckline. She also pulled out a silver belt and a jet black diamond heart-shaped necklace to complete the outfit. Being a model, Rouge does know how to look sexy for school while sticking to the school dress code.

And last was Tikal's outfit. She slowly pulled her outfit out of the plastic bag, and with every bit of the outfit they saw as she's pulling it, the girls were already muttering "It's so cute!" and "How pretty!". Once Tikal revealed her outfit, all of the girls gasped, or squealed in Rouge's case, on how it looked like! A light blue top with the upper part having a fair amount of glitter and the bottom having white laces and a sky blue skirt. Probably the most prettiest outfit Tikal has own as of now!

"I swear, we're going to look fabulous on Friday," Rouge commented after looking at the girl's outfits while putting her own back at the bag.

"Uh... I don't mean to sound so rude, but what's going on Friday, and what's Homecoming Idol?" Maria questioned the five girls.

"Oh, I'll tell you later. Alright, Maria?"

Maria nodded her head as the six continued eating their lunch, but all of a sudden, they stopped eating as three familiar figures were right in front of them. Those figures? Fiona, Sally, and Mina. Queen Bitch and her posse were back. Back with what to be exact?

"Well, well, well girls. Look at this. The Disgusting Flaming Monster is sitting with a group of fat asses," Fiona commented to the girls. "Isn't that nice?"

"Yeah. Very nice," Sally agreed with Fiona.

"Hey!" Amy yelled, slamming her hands on the table, causing some people to stop what they were doing and turn their heads towards the girls. Even the employees were looking at the girl's table. "Why don't you just stop with those comments and leave us alone? It's getting old and annoying!"

"Yeah!" Rouge agreed with Amy. "And I think everyone in here is sick of it!"

"Really? I don't see anyone complaining," Mina pointed out, giving the people in the restaurant nasty glares in order to silence them. "And besides, you girls will never look good in those outfits with those potato figures."

"We're not fat!" Cream and Tikal shouted to Mina.

"And like Amy mentioned before, leave them alone!" Maria joined in standing up to the girls.

However, instead of getting a remark from the three mean girls, she ended up getting soaked in Coke by Fiona, while the rest of the girls had their clothes splattered in their own food by Sally and Mina. Most of the customers were gasping in horror on whats happening to the six girls and wanted to do something, but were afraid to end up like them if they attempt to help them at all. Even the employees were afraid of these three mean girls.

"Make us," the mean girls growled to Maria before laughing in pleasure in seeing the six girls in a horrible mess.

Blaze, having enough of these nasty comments from Queen Bitch and her posse, wanted to show these girls that she really had enough of this crap. Especially after having ketchup on her hair and Dr. Pepper staining on her white shirt. If Blaze can stand up to Fiona, then she can do this again, only with Sally and Mina witnessing it.

She got out of her seat and walked towards the three mean girls, giving them a nasty glare that doesn't even make them flinch in fear, but at least it's enough to cease their laughter.

"You think this is funny? Funny to make fun of others body appearance and not care you hurt their feelings?!" Blaze lectured the three girls in a loud voice.

"It's no big deal," Fiona told Blaze.

"To you, that is. To others, it is a big deal. So at least apologize to them and leave us alone before-"

"Before you unleash your flames, am I right?" Sally finished Blaze's sentence, knowing her powers due to the rumors.

"What?" Rouge and Maria can only say. Blaze can understand Maria not getting this, but Rouge? She should have known this by Amy, Cream, or Tikal at least!

"That's right. Unleash them."

"No!" yelled Blaze.

"Come on. Do it," all the three mean girls ordered Blaze.

"I said NO! I'll make you leave without using my powers! For the sake of my friends!"

"Aw. You hear that girls? The Disgusting Flaming Monster considers these freaks her friends. Isn't that sweet?" Fiona snickered.

"Yeah," Mina nodded her head.

"And I thought **a monster like her would never have any friends that would like her**!" Sally commented.

_"A monster like her would never have any friends that would like her!"_

Right when Sally said those words, Blaze's amber eyes started to form tears, ready to fall out in any given moment. She wanted to cry right now, but she doesn't want to cry in front of all these people in here. Especially not in front of her friends. If she can even call them friends to begin with!

Nobody seemed to noticed the tears forming in her eyes, except for Maria who looked at her face, wanting to hug her and tell her everything will be okay like she always does when she sees somebody cry. Her grandfather taught her that. But in a situation like this, she shouldn't do that. These four girls already saw Blaze as a strong person, and they didn't want to see a strong person cry over some small yet harsh words.

Noticing Blaze hasn't spoken a word to them, Fiona sarcastically asked the lavender-haired teen, "Oh, so you're finished with your worthless lecture? Because it looks like you are."

_Yes. Yes I am done, _Blaze wanted to say to Fiona, but instead of those words coming out of her mouth, she slowly exited the restaurant and went outside with her head lowered down to avoid letting people see her face covered in tears, slowly sliding down to her clothes, some landing on her mouth to taste the salt in them. Once she thinks that nobody is looking at her, Blaze started to lift her head up high and run as far as she can. Far away from her 'friends', far away from those mean girls, far away from the random shoppers who tried to look at her when she accidentally bumped onto them, far from anybody to see her like this!

If Blaze can handle harsh words like 'monster', 'bitch', 'abnormal', 'ugly', and 'disgusting', then how come she can't handle what Sally had said to her?!

_"A monster like her would never have any friends that would like her!"_

Those thirteen words. Every time Blaze hears those words, she would break into tears because it reminded her on that day back at Kindergarten when it was Parent's Day where most of her classmates, even some of the parents, said that exact phrase in the harshest way ever while one threw little pebbles at her after she accidentally burned a girl's precious doll. And that was the day when her desire of making friends vanished forever. The day she would only trust herself and her parents, the day she would never accept help from others, the day she would ignore those harsh names and the intense bullying, the day she ignored socializing with anyone altogether, and the day she labeled her flames as a 'curse'. But even when she grew stronger as the years passed by, hearing those thirteen words is enough to make Blaze cry until she can't cry anymore.

Blaze prays to God that nobody would see her like this. Nobody. Nobody at all.

* * *

~Barnes and Nobles (1:05 P.M.)~

Exiting out of the two storied book store, Silver took a deep breath of fresh air after being in that store for about two hours straight. Why? He had to take Marine to get the last book of the popular Maximum Ride series autographed by the author himself since Wave couldn't take her due to spending some time with her dad. Well, at least something good came out of this. It's not everyday anyone gets to meet James Patterson in person. Some people would get excited if they met him; especially Marine since she loves his stories (mainly Maximum Ride due to Wave reading it).

And speaking of Marine, her blue eyes were practically shining brightly by looking at the words the famous author wrote on the front page of the book:

"_Keep dreaming hard and you'll go farther than anyone else."- James Patterson_

"You still looking at the autograph?" Silver asked Marine as they stopped at a ice cream stand.

Marine nodded her head a few times before exclaiming, "It's amazing to see your favorite author to sign a book you love so much!"

"You mean series," Silver corrected Marine.

"Book, series, doesn't matter mate!" Marine told Silver.

"Alright, Marine. I get your point," said Silver while getting his wallet out of his pocket and asked Marine, "So, what flavor of ice cream do you want?"

"Um... I want mango ice cream with blueberries on top!" Marine decided quickly. "Are you going to get your favorite flavor: mint chocolate chip with strawberries on top?"

_Man, does this girl knows me well! _Silver laughed in his thoughts. Even thought Marine has known Silver for only two years, she can tell what he likes an dislikes in an instant due to spending so much time with him.

"Yeah, you got that right, Marine!" Silver exclaimed. "Now let's get our-"

But before he can finish his sentence, he can hear somebody crying. And based on the sobbing, that person who's crying is a girl. But who would cry at a mall of all places? Especially an outdoors mall like the Grove?

"Silver mate, what's wrong?" Marine asked her older-brother figure as she noticed Silver isn't getting the ice cream flavors.

"Uh... nothing... nothing Marine," Silver answered, not wanting to worry Marine.

While Silver was ordering the flavors, he heard the crying again, though he ignored it as he watched the employee taking Silver's order for the two ice creams in cups. Maybe it was his imagination. Yeah. That could be it. But his answer is going to be proven wrong when he heard the crying again, only this time, it's a bit louder. To him at least. The employee at the ice cream didn't hear the loud crying at all, and neither did Marine.

After he payed $3.50 for the ice cream to the employee, Silver all of a sudden started to walk away from Marine, causing the young brunette to follow him in order to find out why he's walking near a corner instead of a table with a red umbrella while still carrying her ice cream.

"Captain Silver, where are you going?" Marine wondered, taking a small bite of her ice cream from her mouth.

"I've heard someone cry and I wanted to know who it is," Silver explained to Marine as they walked away from a crowd full of people and to the hall where the bathrooms and the vending machines to the drinks were.

The crying Silver heard started to become louder and louder as he walked closer, and the walk eventually turned to a sprint as he thought he recognize who's crying. He thought it was Blaze who's crying! But he wasn't sure if it was her. Sure, he never saw Blaze cry at all since he just met her a few days ago, but knew it was sure due to her voice. That strong voice belonging to a sweet and strong girl crying for some reason he doesn't know. Soon enough, he was right when he spotted Blaze next to a corner near a trashcan with her knees hugged towards her body, with her head lowered down, tears dropping down to the floor and in the clothes. Eventually, Marine caught up to Silver and witnessed the girl who saved her in the library breaking down hard in front of her own blue eyes.

"Why is Blaze crying, Silver?" asked Marine.

"That's what I like to know," Silver can manage to answer to Marine before he sat down on the tile floor, scooting closer to Blaze while taking three quick bites to his ice cream, not getting a brain freeze luckily. "Blaze?" he called to the crying lavender-haired teen.

Hearing someone calling her name, Blaze quickly pulled up her face to see who's calling her. And of all people, it had to be Silver who's seeing her face all red and puffy from crying who knows how long! Why him?! And if that doesn't add to it, Marine is there as well! Oh god!

"S...Silver? What are... what are... you doing here?" Blaze manage to ask Silver between sobs.

"That's the question I wanted to ask you in the first place." Silver said, placing his ice cream cup next to him on the floor. "Plus, why were you crying?"

_He can't know! He just can't know the reason why! _Blaze thought. _Make something up! Anything! Anything to avoid 'that'!_

"I... I'm not crying..." Blaze manage to say.

"I'm not buying it," Silver replied to Blaze's answer.

It's obvious that Blaze was crying! Her amber eyes were all red and puffy, her hands were all wet, tears were still flowing out of her eyes, and her voice was obviously not in control and sounding normal.

"Blaze, just tell me."

"And me as well!" Marine popped in, now sitting next to Silver.

"Cut that, tell 'us'," Silver corrected himself.

"I told you... I'm not..." Blaze tried to lie again.

"Yes you are, and you can't hide it. No one else is here but you, me, and Marine. So just tell me why you were crying? Was it because of Rouge's horrible driving?"

Blaze shook her head to Silver's first guess. He came up with that answer because Rouge practically made Marine cry when she drove her to the mall during the summer!

"Or was it because somebody hurt you in some way?"

_Damn! _Blaze cursed herself in her thoughts as Silver got the correct reason in just two guesses!

"Yes," Blaze nodded her head slowly. "That's why."

"Eh?! What did they say that would make you cry?" Marine wondered, almost letting go of her ice cream.

No answer.

"Just tell us. Please, Blaze," Silver said as he scooted a bit closer to Blaze.

"Those words that made me cry every time I hear them," Blaze told Silver.

"What were they?"

"A monster... a monster like her would never... never have any friends that would like her..." Blaze managed to answer before she started to sob once again, turning away from the two orphans.

Seeing Blaze like this almost wanted to make Silver cry, but with Marine here, he can't do that since she might have learned the phrase 'boys don't cry' in school. Instead, Silver decided to hug her close to his chest, letting Blaze's tears soaking his black shirt.

_If this world is wearing thin_

_And you're thinking of escape_

_I'll go anywhere with you_

_Just wrap me up in chains_

A new song suddenly played over the speakers while Silver is comforting Blaze, and oddly enough, this seems to be fitting considering the situation the two of them are in.

_But if you try to go alone_

_Don't think I'll understand_

_Stay with me, stay with me_

He didn't want Blaze to cry alone over those thirteen words that stabbed her heart very deeply, he wanted to be there for her when something horrible happens to her. They are friends, at least to Silver that is. To Blaze, like she thought with the girls, she didn't know if she would consider Silver as her friend.

"Silver..." Blaze muttered under her breath as she noticed what Silver is doing.

"Please don't cry, Blaze. Because you're about to make me cry and I don't want to do that," Silver whispered to Blaze.

"I'm sorry if I almost made you-"

"It's alright," Silver accepted Blaze's apology, even though she didn't finish it. "But I'm just curious, who said those words?"

"Sally did when I was at Chick-fil-A."

"Was she with-"

"Fiona and Mina? Yes." Blaze answered before Silver can complete his question. "And those words reminded me why I considered my flames as a 'curse' before you told me they're a great gift from god."

"When did you remember hearing these harsh words?" Silver wondered, along with Marine who's only eating the blueberries from her hands.

"Kindergarten during Parent's Day. I can still clearly remember my classmates, and even their parents saying those thirteen words to me, not caring that they made me cry."

"How cruel of them to do that to you!" Marine commented.

Cruel indeed. Silver can't imagine that scenario happening to Blaze in his mind! Especially the part with the parents making fun of Blaze! He thought these parents were suppose to show a good example by telling their kids to respect others. Apparently, these parents didn't taught them to do that.

_In the silence of your room_

_In the darkness of your dreams_

_You must only think of me_

_There can be no in-between_

_When your pride is on the floor_

_I'll make you beg for more_

"Well just ignore them," Silver advised Blaze while wiping away Blaze's tears from her face.

"Eh?" Blaze managed to say.

"Just ignore them." Silver repeated his advice. "Laugh at that dumb comment and say 'Wait 'til I make friends who will like me for who I am'. That's something I've learned from both Vector and Sonic."

"If you do that, you'll become a stronger person!" Marine added, now eating her mango ice cream.

"You sure?" Blaze wondered, mainly on the comment Silver made about her making friends.

"Yeah!" both Silver and Marine nodded their heads.

"Plus, I think you already made friends who like you for being you," Silver pointed out, hugging Blaze tighter. "And one of your friends is right here."

Blaze's eyes grew in surprise and started to form more tears, but not the tears she experienced and tasted for more than half-an-hour; They were tears of joy. Happy that Blaze can consider Silver as her friend. Her first friend. Happy she can now consider Amy, the first person she talked to at Emerald High, as a friend. She can consider Sonic, Tikal, Rouge, and the rest of Silver's friends as her friends. For ten years, she didn't have a single friend... Until now...

_Stay with me, stay with me_

She really didn't want this moment to end. She wanted to stay in Silver's arms for as long as she can. Not because she liked this hug more than Rouge's hugs (which is true by the way), but because she found somebody that she can consider as a friend. A great friend in fact.

However, the hug suddenly ended when she heard footsteps across from the hall, causing the three to get off from the floor, with Silver picking up his mint chocolate chip ice cream cup. Blaze took a quick peek on who's walking in this hall and sighed in relief when she spotted Maria, carrying the pink plastic bag that's containing Blaze's Homecoming Idol outfit.

"Blaze! There you are!" Maria exclaimed as she came running towards Blaze, hugging her. "My god, what happened? Everyone was all worried about you when you ran out!"

"They were?" Blaze questioned the blond.

"Yes! They wanted to know where you were and searched the entire mall just to find you!"

Amy, Cream, Rouge, Tikal, and even Maria did this for her? That's a first!

"But... what about..." Blaze started to form her question about Fiona, Sally, and Mina.

"Oh, don't worry about them. After you ran out, your friends stood up for you, along with some of the customers who had to witness that, and lectured them on how it's not nice to make fun of others and mentioned they were the meanest bitches in the entire universe."

"No way."

"Yep. And if you think that's amazing, the employees demanded these girls to not only leave the restaurant but to not come at the Grove for at least three weeks!"

"Whoa."

"I know. People even applauded as they left. It's just... I need another word other than 'amazing' to describe this."

"That happened to Fiona, Sally, and Mina? I can't believe it!" Silver jumped into the conversation, eating his ice cream, along with Marine.

Seeing the two orphans for the first time, Maria asked Blaze, "Uh... who are these people?"

"Oh right. Maria, that's Marine Ranta," Blaze pointed to Marine, who's now waving to the two girls before Blaze pointed to the older orphan, "And the boy with silver hair is Venice..." Great. She didn't know Silver's last name!

"Faust. My last name is Faust," Silver informed Blaze. "Venice Faust is my name, but most people call me 'Silver' due to my hair color."

"Oh, well it's nice to meet you guys," said Maria, handing the pink bag to Blaze. "And my name is Maria Roth."

"Nice to meet you Maria," Silver replied to the blond, shaking her hand.

Once the two were done shaking hands, the four heard more footsteps running in the hall, which Maria easily recognizes in just about two seconds. Blaze didn't know who's in the hall until she heard a few familiar voices chatting.

"Do you think Miss Barbara is in here?" _Cream._

"Yeah. She might be here." _Rouge._

"I hope she's alright." _Tikal._

"Don't worry! Blaze is going to be alright! I'm sure of it!" _Amy._

Hearing her friends voices, Blaze slowly walked away from the corner she was hiding herself moments ago to reveal herself to the four girls looking for her. Once they spotted her, they all came running towards her, eventually giving her, along with Maria, a very tight group hug. Not that tight like Rouge's hugs surprisingly.

"Oh my god, Blaze! We finally found you!" Rouge cheered. "Are you okay?!"

"Yea, Rouge," Blaze answered. "I'm alright."

"Thank god!" all the girls sighed in relief.

"When Queen Bitch and her minions laughed at you for crying, we knew we had to find you quickly before something terrible happened to you." Amy explained to Blaze.

"And like Amy mentioned before, you're alright," Tikal added.

"Hurray!" Cream happily cheered right when the girls were done with their group hug.

When the group hug was done, Blaze laughed with the girls for being together at last and giving a quick smile to Silver and Marine who were still hiding on the corner eating their ice cream. And when Silver smiled back, Blaze's face turned into a bright shade of pink since the smile looked simple yet sweet. Luckily, nobody seemed to notice Blaze's face turning all pink before she walked away from the hall and back outside to enjoy the rest of her afternoon with her friends.

Friends who would accept her for the way she is.

* * *

**Author's Note: PHEW! It was hard work to get this chapter finished, but I did it! Yea! I was never going to include Silver and Marine in this chapter, but I decided to at the last minute. Oh, and I finally got Maria to make her debut (YESSS!)! Plus, while writing this chapter, I cried when writing the part on Blaze remembering those thirteen words back at Kindergarten while listening to some OSTs to Puella Magi Madoka Magica.**

**Now for the names. I'm going to do Fiona since... well... I need to do one since she was acting like a mega bitch. Fiona means "fair, beautiful" in Gaelic; thinking she's all that due to her status as a model. Her last name Foss is French for "ditch"; meaning she'll hurt someone so badly she'll send them to the ditch. And the fact it rhymes with 'bitch'. Isn't that nice?**

**Also, I've made a prequel to "Gray Flame" called "100 Sparks Fly", based on the 100 theme challenge I found on Deviantart, so check it out if you want to!**

**And no, I haven't read the last book to the Maximum Ride series (I want to though!). But wouldn't it be nice for James Patterson to autograph the last book?**

**The songs mentioned were:**

**"Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" by Boys Town Gang (I blame Just Dance 4)**

**"Stay" by Bentley Jones ft. Liz Saunders (love that song!)**

**The poll I had concerning about the boys in this story will close on December 21st, so hurry! If you like this sweet chapter, please leave a review! ;D**


	15. Crushes

~(Sunday) Sonic's House: Living Room (2:00 P.M.)~

Sonic and Tails were sitting on the white couch with Tails' orange laptop, looking at the list of the songs they're going to play at Homecoming Idol on iTunes while Shadow is looking through a bunch of CD's he brought on the table. Wait... Why the heck are they doing this anyway?! And on a Sunday?!

Apparently, during the first week of school, the Student Council, who came up with Homecoming Idol in the first place five years ago, asked Sonic if he can be the DJ for this event, along with providing the electric guitar just in case the singer wanted to sing along with the strums of the guitar instead of the instrumental for the selected song. Since Sonic loved remixing songs and playing the guitar in his spare time, he accepted both duties in just a second. But he wasn't able to find or make instrumentals of any songs until the president of the Student Council gave Sonic the list on all the songs that's going to be there, along with the singers.

Sonic thought this is going to be no problem to him before seeing the list of the songs, but after seeing it on Friday... He wishes he could nap all day in his room than do this: Find or make instrumentals for thirty-six songs for the same amount for those who are trying out! THIRTY-SIX! And with that amount of people means the auditions has to start earlier instead of 3:30 in order for all the auditioners to sing; not to mention to let the audience sing a bit for one hour (something Sonic suggested to Stu. Co.).

Now not only Sonic has to complete that task of finding/making tons of instrumentals for the auditioners, but find music that the audience can sing to while waiting for the main event to happen at 2:30 (new time)! Oh god, that's a hell lot of work for Sonic to do! Luckily, he asked his friends to help him with this task, except Knuckles for two obvious reasons. And so far, only Tails and Shadow were in Sonic's house. Silver and Espio were the only two that are missing since the two had to take care of some Sunday chores they had to do, but that's just normal for these two.

Right now, Sonic is listening to one of the instrumental of the third Nikki Minaj song he has heard today; not to mention it's his most hated one of all time.

"Okay. 'Starships' is working just fine Tails. Can we change it to another song?! Please?!" Sonic asked Tails, not wanting to hear this song.

"Yeah, sure thing. Give me a second." Tails agreed with his friend as he clicked the skip button to another instrumental. Soon, the song changed from Nikki Minaj to Lady Gaga.

"Much better!" Sonic happily singed. "For a moment, I thought I was going to smash the laptop if I hear another instrumental by 'her'."

"Well lucky for us, this is the last Nikki Minaj song on the list."

"YES! God, she's starting to annoy me. Especially 'Starships'."

"Me too." Shadow also replied as well, still looking through his CD's.

Curious on what Shadow is currently doing, Sonic turned away from Tails and asked Shadow, "Hey, are you looking for a song on the list or for the audience?"

"Second answer choice. I was wondering if anyone would like to sing 'Uprising' or 'The Kill'."

"Maybe I can sing them!" Sonic suggested, excited to sing any song even though...

"I doubt it. And besides, you suck at singing." Shadow pointed out.

That. Even though Sonic came from a family that's gifted with musical talents, singing isn't just one of them. Sure, Sonic can play the guitar and the drums, but singing... a bit off-tune, yet he comments his voice is better than Mina's and Fiona's combined, which is true.

"Oh come on! Who cares if my voice isn't that great! What matters is that you have fun singing!" Sonic commented, placing both feet on the table. "So it's best to choose songs that you enjoy and like to sing to!"

"Alright Sonic," Shadow sighed, pulling out a blank CD while taking a seat on the couch next to Sonic. "I have a mix CD that I sometimes play at Asia Diamond, so you can look over them and see if you can make an instrumental to them."

"No prob, Shadz!" Sonic nodded his head before grabbing his friend's mix CD and showing it to Tails.

But before Tails can insert the CD into his laptop, the doorbell ringed throughout the house, causing Sonic to run towards the door to see who's here. He soon opened the door to see Silver and Espio outside of the front door, causing him to hug the two teen orphans tightly; not too tight like Rouge's hugs.

"Hey guys!" Sonic greeted Silver and Espio.

"Hi... Sonic..." Silver managed to breath out from this hug.

"Ryan... let go... of..." Espio demanded to the blue-haired teen.

"Sure thing!" Sonic said as he broke off the short-lived hug, letting Silver and Espio inside his house. Shortly after letting the two in, Sonic asked them, "Did you guys brought any CDs with you?"

"Yep." Silver answered, showing Sonic the CD case that contains his mix CD he made a few months ago.

"I did. About three of them." Espio told Sonic while pulling out three CD cases from his dark green jacket. "And at least-"

But Espio didn't get to finish his sentence when Sonic snatched the containers from the yellow-orange eyed teen's hands, scanning through each of the clear CDs that were labeled with permanent marker. After taking a quick glimpse on the CDs, Sonic handed Espio his CDs back before plunging down to the couch next to Tails; currently listening to Shadow's mix CD.

"Wow, Espio. I can't believe you brought Japanese music with you." Sonic commented, putting one of the earphones on his right ear.

"What?! You didn't even listen to any one of them!" Espio yelled to the emerald-eyed teen.

"Hey! You like to listen to them a lot, so it's obvious you would bring them here."

"But that doesn't mean it's only filled with them. There are others types of music in that CD!" Espio argued with Sonic.

"You sure?" questioned Sonic.

"Yes I'm sure, Ryan!"

"Are you really-"

Not wanting to hear these two arguing on something petty like music, Silver interrupted the two's argument by saying, "Hey! How about we listen to Espio's CDs right when we finished listening to the CD that's currently playing. Alright?"

"Alright." the two boys agreed.

Right when Sonic's and Espio's argument ended, Tails accidentally pulled off the headphones from his laptop, and a new song played in the living room. A song nobody expected to hear from Shadow's CD.

_Hey, hey, hey_

Hearing the first words to this song, Sonic had a huge smile on his face as he turned around to Shadow, currently banging his head on the table just from this song. Why must this song play at all times?! Especially in front of his friends!

"Shadow," Sonic called to his older friend.

"Yes, Sonic," Shadow growled as he finished banging his head on the table.

"Can you explain to me why 'Soul Sister' by Train is on your-"

"My little sister practically begged for me to put it in! Alright?!" Shadow yelled to everyone in the house.

As in a little sister who's the total opposite of Shadow. His 13-year-old sister, Miracle, is loud, hyper, and immature, while Shadow is quiet, calm, and very mature for his age. Miracle is like the female version of Sonic, though Shadow would rather be with Sonic than his little sister as she drives him crazy with her girly friends coming to his house almost everyday and her annoying music! Especially... some guy that sounds like a girl... He can't remember his name.

"Really?" Sonic wondered.

"Yes, I'm being honest." Shadow answered. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"Of course not, and I can totally understand why that song is in your CD."

"Besides, I'm thinking about singing that song on Friday." Silver popped in while taking a seat on the couch. He turned to face Sonic and asked him, "And do you think you can find an instrumental-"

"For this song? Sure thing, Vennie!" Sonic cheerfully answered.

"And besides, with you being well-known in school, it'll get more people to sing." Tails added, placing his laptop on the table.

"Exactly!"

_Your lipstick stains_

_On the front lobe of my_

_Left-side brains_

_I knew I wouldn't forget you_

_And so I went and let you_

_Blow my mind_

Now hearing the first verse of the song, Sonic had a sudden urge to ask Silver a question, but he wasn't sure if he should ask or not. Why? Because that question contains 'that'.

Hmm... Why not.

"Hey Vennie, can you tell us why you want to sing 'Soul Sister' on Friday?" Sonic ask Silver out loud, causing Tails, Shadow, and Espio to stop what they were doing and stared at Silver, curious to hear this.

"Why do you want to know?" Silver wondered.

"No reason." Sonic answered. "Now tell us! Please!"

"Uh... I wanted to sing that song because I wanted to." Silver told the boys, face turning a slight shade of pink as he really didn't want to tell them the real reason.

"Liar!"

"Eh?"

"You're totally lying to us. Come on, spill it out!"

"It's the truth! Right, Espio?" Silver asked his oldest friend.

"Nope." Espio flatly answered.

_Damn. Now I have no choice but to tell the truth. _Silver thought.

"Vennie, tell us the-" Sonic tried to demand again, but was interrupted when he heard Silver shout out:

"I'm singing this song on Friday because I think of Blaze whenever I hear this song!"

After yelling the truth out of his mouth, Silver looked at his friends to see if they were laughing. No they weren't. Instead, their eyes grew wide with surprise; Sonic being the widest out of all of the boys. They didn't expect this answer from Silver, but to be honest, it's true. Blaze is on Silver's mind. More specifically, the parts where he felt Blaze's hands while they were making pizzas Friday night and when he comforted her when she was crying yesterday. Thinking about these events makes him... Makes him... It's hard to describe it!

_Your sweet moonbeam_

_The smell of you in every _

_Single dream I dream_

_I knew when we collided_

_You're the one I have decided_

_Who's one of my kind._

"Wow." Sonic can only say. "Just... wow... I knew this would happen!"

"Me having a crush on Blaze? Yep. It happened." Silver admitted, face-palming himself softly. "Ever since we first met, I kept having thoughts of her, but as I got to know her better as the days went by, my mind told me that she's the girl for me."

"Really?" everyone asked.

"Yeah. Stupid, huh?"

Silver expected a laugh from some of his friends, but instead, he heard Sonic saying, "What do you mean it's stupid? That's really awesome for you to admit your crush in front of us guys!"

"You mean it Sonic?"

"Of course! None of us would admit our crushes to anyone!"

"But you sure were brave telling us about your crush." Tails added.

"In fact, I'll admit that I have a small crush on Amy." Sonic blurted out in a voice that reads 'I don't care'.

"You don't say..." Shadow sarcastically commented, knowing Sonic's crush prior to this.

"Hey! It's true!" Sonic yelled to Shadow, waving his arms frantically.

The reason Sonic had a crush on Amy is not because of her plain yet pretty looks (part of that) but because of her optimistic and cheerful personality that makes anyone smile whenever she's there. He didn't realized her two great traits until the 7th grade where Amy cheered Sonic up when he had to be on crutches for at least one or two months. And those words Amy told him made him have a crush on her. Those words?

_"If you keep looking on the bright side when things seems dark, something good will happen!"_

_Hey Soul Sister_

_Ain't that mister mister_

_On the radio, stereo_

_The way you move ain't fair, you know_

_Hey Soul Sister_

_I don't want to miss _

_A single thing you do_

_Tonight_

Sonic kept those words spoken by Amy in his mind ever since that day, and he should probably thank her for saying these positive words.

Shortly after Sonic waved his arms like crazy, he asked Tails, "So little bro, now that Vennie and I admit our crushes, you have to tell us-"

"Cream because she's the most nicest girl I've ever met." Tails answered in the same tone Sonic had before.

_Knew he would say that. _Sonic thought. Of course it's obvious! Even though the two are in different grades despite being the same age, Tails admired Cream for her polite nature and natural beauty, while Cream admired Tails for his modesty and high intelligence. These two would be a cute couple if they ever went out together!

"Shadow... your crush?" Sonic, Tails, and Silver said, wondering Shadow's crush.

"Maria."

Sonic, Tails, and Espio turned their heads to the left as they have no idea who Maria is. Silver on the other hand, knew who Maria is. He met her yesterday at the Grove! But for the reason why Shadow has a crush on Maria? Besides her looks, everyone had no idea.

"Okay... I'm not going to ask who Maria is..." Sonic commented to himself before turning to Espio to ask the same question he asked to Silver, Tails, and Shadow. "So Espio, do you have a crush on anyone?"

"No." Espio simply replied quickly.

"You sure?"

"I'm positive."

"He does." Shadow told the boys.

Hearing that from Shadow, Espio's cheeks blushed a bit pink as he doesn't want to confess his friends his 'crush'. He **really** doesn't want to tell them like all his friends did with confidence. Okay, Silver struggled a bit at first, but he did it eventually.

"You do, Espio?" Silver asked his friend.

"No I don't." Espio snapped back, his cheeks turning a more noticeable shade of pink.

"You're face is telling us you do have a crush on someone." Tails pointed out. "And we promise we won't laugh or get mad at you just because of your crush. Alright?"

As of now, nobody laughed when they admitted their crushes out loud, so Espio might as well tell them about his 'crush'.

"So, who is it?" everybody asked.

For the first few seconds, Espio remained silent as he's thinking how his friends will react to this. Would they be mad or happy about it? Tails did say they wouldn't be angry or burst into laughter when he admits his crush a few seconds ago. Plus, Espio is with people who he can trust. So...

"Well?" questioned Shadow. "Aren't you-"

"Tikal." Espio finally managed to say quietly.

"Huh?" Sonic said in confusion.

Apparently, they didn't get to hear Espio's crush...

"He said Tikal." Shadow told the guys.

Except Shadow. Damn his stupid hearing.

Nobody said a single word about Espio's crush. Not even Sonic said anything! How come they were all silent, anyway?! Just why?!

Luckily, the silence was broken when Silver said, "You have a crush on Tikal?"

Espio slowly nodded his head in response to Silver's question.

"Are you 110% sure?"

"Yes. I'm 110% sure, Venice."

"No way!" Sonic yelled out, getting off the couch and went to where Espio currently is; sitting on the floor on his knees near the table. "Tell us why you have a crush on her!"

_Hell no, Ryan. _Is what Espio could have said to Sonic, but instead of that harsh reply coming out of his mouth, he told Sonic and the others, "Her sweet personality."

Curious on what he meant by that, Silver asked Espio, "What do you mean when she had a sweet personality?"

That question again. The same question Tikal and Rouge asked him on Thursday at Asia Diamond, but he never got the chance to answer that question due to him being interrupted. Twice. **TWICE! **Now he's able to answer it in front of his friends on that question. And to be honest, he already has his answer set up. Here goes nothing.

"Well," Espio started, "the reason that I say Tikal has a sweet personality is because she has so many traits that makes her personality 'sweet'."

"Like...?" everyone wanted Espio to give an example.

"She's very kind to her friends and family, never makes rash decisions like her brother..."

He stopped talking in order to let Sonic laugh at the last statement. Knuckles doesn't think about his actions before doing them most of the time. Like the time when he hit Shadow with a soccer ball on purpose and ended up being chased around by him, or the time he took an incomplete Extreme Gear from Tails' workshop (yes he has one at his house) and it blew up on him after riding it for only two minutes, and just recently this morning before Knuckles left to watch one of Rouge's 'horrifying' photo shoots, he dumped a bucket full of sub-zero water on Sonic's head, causing the two to get into a fierce yet short fight between these two friends. And the fight wasn't pretty as it involved these two already possessing these 'gifts'. Overall, Knuckles actions often gets him into trouble if he hastily jumps into action rather than carefully thinking about them.

After Sonic finished laughing, Espio continued explaining his answer, "Anyway, she knows how to calm people down without harming anyone, great to be around no matter where she is, but she can be shy and quiet towards others, and is easily scared towards a few things like thunder and ghost like Kennith is. Still, that's why she has a sweet and innocent personality. Not to mention she looks beautiful and has the most amazing singing voice I've ever heard in my life."

"So that's why you have a crush on Tikal? Her personality, looks, and her five-star singing voice?" Sonic guessed.

"Yes. And in those two years since I first met Tikal, I never thought she would be my first crush until 'that' moment at Asia Diamond. Since then, I kept having dreams of her whenever I sleep and kept thinking about her voice at times."

Like at Thursday after he's finished cleaning the bathrooms, Espio accidentally spilled some drinks on the customers, screwed up on the orders, almost burned his hand on the oven, hit an employee with a tray (that employee being Wave), and broke a few plates in the wash room just because he thought of Tikal. Then came Friday where he woke up late because of that dream, literally yelled to Silver in the car, was late to class because he had to take Tikal to the computer lab where her math class is in, spaced out in some of his classes, got hit in the head with a basketball in Gym, and threatened Vector's life after school because of Tikal. And in the weekend... He's not going to think about that!

Ever since the events that happened from Thursday, he was acting different than usual all because he was thinking about Tikal. Sweet and innocent Tikal. Who knew this would happen to him?

"Wow." everyone commented.

"I never thought you would have a crush on Tikal, Espio. But now that I think about it, you two might make a very nice couple." Silver added as he got off from the couch. "And maybe one day, she'll admit that she likes you back as well. Same thing with our crushes."

"Yeah." Espio agreed with Silver. "And I'm glad we had this talk about our crushes. If we didn't, then Ryan would have kept teasing us about it for months."

"Why would you guys think I would do that?!" Sonic yelled.

"Because you always do." Shadow replied. "Like that time when you teased Knuckles about marrying Rouge last week, made fun of Jet being Wave's boyfriend in the 8th grade, and let's not forget that time a few years ago when-"

"Okay, okay! I get it Shadz!" Sonic interrupted Shadow's short rant as he doesn't want to go through all of these events again! Especially that last part!

"Good."

Right when their discussion about their crushes were over, a new song appeared and apparently, it's an artist that everyone hates. Especially Shadow. That voice that's suppose to be a boy but ended up sounding like a girl in her early teens. Who's that artist?

"Let me guess, Shadow. Miracle begged you to put a Justin Bieber song in that CD?" Tails questioned Shadow.

"Yes." Shadow growled. "Let's change the CD. Shall we?"

Eventually, Tails switched from Shadow's mix CD to one of Espio's mix CDs and ended up listening to them in order to find songs that the audience can sing to. Not to mention understand. And while the boys were listening, Espio spotted some paper under the table, along with a pen and a magazine for a hard surface to write on, and started to write something while using his left hand to cover up the note. A note for Tikal for Friday.

As for Silver, he kept thinking about the song he's going to preform on Friday: "Soul Sister". The lyrics matched perfectly on what Silver thought of Blaze. He kept thinking about her, she has a special 'gift' from God just like Silver and his friends, he likes her just the way she is, and wants to be with her in anyway he can. Yeah. Another reason why Silver wants to sing this song.

_Please let Friday come here quickly._ Silver thought as he listened to the music.

* * *

**Author's Note: Hey! Here's the 15th chapter to Gray Flame! A short one to be exact about the boys! Wow... I haven't had a short chapter since... Like what? Chapter 7 I believe? Well, it's better than nothing!**

**No new names as of now, so sorry...**

**And as for Shadow's little sister, Miracle, she's my OC for this fanfic, and she will make a future appearance in this story. **

**And yes, I HATE Justin Bieber. Any Bieber haters here, I praise you!**

**Remember, poll closes on 12/21, so hurry! So far, Silver has about 75% of the votes as of now.**

**Songs heard:**

**"Soul Sister" by Train (love it!)**

**Speaking of songs, most of the characters are going to sing, so can you guess what song each character is going to sing? It's for fun, so guess away! And no, Shadow is not going to sing "All Hail Shadow" or "I Am All of Me", both by Crush 40. Sorry.**

**If you like this chapter, please leave a review and I'll see you next time! **

**Later! ;D**


	16. Surprises Before Friday

_Four days later..._

~(Thursday) Emerald High School (8:00 A.M)~

Turning off the engine to his black and red motorcycle in the student parking lot, Shadow got off his vehicle and pulled out his cell-phone to check out the text messages he received from Rouge a half-hour ago about what he missed this week. Apparently, Shadow had gotten the flu on Monday, meaning he missed three days of school, making him fall behind in his studies. Ooh, how much he hates that! Trying to catch up on school work in only one day is the worst thing that can happen to anyone! And Shadow is bound to get tons of work due to the fact he has four AP classes. FOUR! But Shadow knows he can finish his make-up work quickly in one day due to his great work ethic, so it didn't bother him too badly.

Ignoring the thoughts on getting make-up work in almost all of his classes, Shadow entered the school while scanning through the text messages. Most of them were about what they did in order to keep Knuckles from figuring out Tikal can sing until Friday arrives. They ranged from Rouge taking Knuckles to her photo shoots on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon to Sonic punching Knuckles in 'that' area when he almost heard Tikal quietly singing to herself during lunch yesterday. The last one made Shadow smile a little bit. He can imagine Sonic doing that to the poor red-haired teen.

Shadow then scrolled to the two unread messages and decided to read them. And unlike the last eighteen messages about distracting Knuckles for the past three days, these two were different.

**From: Rouge Bayle**

**Topic: Location**

_We're in the Choir room practicing for tomorrow's karaoke segment! You better come here fast since Sonic is singing! (And it's so hilarious!) _

**From: Rouge Bayle**

**Topic: Surprise**

_Also, while you were gone, there's a new student who arrived and she wants to meet you! Not kidding! So hurry up, Shadz!_

New student who wants to meet Shadow? Who could it be anyway? He doesn't know, but Shadow can guess that this girl is an old friend of Rouge and must told the new student about Shadow. That could be it. And Shadow can understand why they were in the Choir room. Rouge had taken Choir two years ago (no idea why she quit), and grew to be the teacher's favorite due to her voice and that she's really responsible unlike most girls her age. So the teacher allowed Rouge and her friends to practice their singing, knowing they won't cause a total mess while she's gone.

Closing his cell phone and putting it back in his backpack, Shadow sprinted from the front office to the Choir room in less than ten seconds since he was running his air shoes. He was about to open the door until he heard Sonic singing "Dance, Dance" by Fall Out Boy from the doors. Even though it's closed!

_Dance, Dance_

_We're falling apart to half time_

_Dance, Dance_

_And these are the lives you'd love to lead_

_Dance, this is the way they'd love_

_If they knew how misery loved me_

And of course, Sonic is off in terms of voice, but Shadow knew how much fun Sonic is having just by singing the song.

Ignoring Sonic's singing, Shadow finally opened the doorknob to let himself in the room to see everyone, minus Knuckles since he has morning baseball practice, applauding for Sonic as he finished the song and is still holding the wireless mic.

"Thank you! Thank you so much! You guys have been such a lovely audience!" Sonic told his friends before he turned around to see Shadow taking a seat on a chair. "Hey Shadz! You just missed my amazing performance I pulled off! I swear, if you were here, you would be commenting that I have a five-star voice!"

"Yeah. I would say that." Shadow agreed sarcastically, leaning back on the chair. He would do that. At least, having five-stars for being off-tone! "So, are you guys planning to do a little karaoke for tomorrow?"

"Yes!" everybody responded, minus Tikal for an obvious reason.

"And right now, I'm going to pass the mic to a very special person!" Sonic announced, tossing the mic carelessly.

"Amy?" Shadow guessed as he remembered Sonic admitting he has a crush on Amy.

"Nope."

"Then who is it?"

"Me." a new voice in the back answered to Shadow's question.

Shadow turned around to see who answered to him, and his red eyes grew wide in surprise to see who it is:

"M...Maria? Is that you?" Shadow can only say.

"Yes, Shadow. It's me. Maria Roth." Maria responded as she got up from her seat and hugged Shadow for a while.

"My god... I thought you-"

"You thought wrong." Maria replied as she broke the hug and walked away from him.

He couldn't believe it! Is this the person that really wants to meet him?! Maria?! Shadow thought Maria was gone six years ago! But apparently, she isn't gone in this world as she's here, walking to the front of the room, grabbing the wireless mic from Sonic's hands before she can stand next to the piano.

"So, which song do you want to sing?" Rouge asked her old friend.

"Surprise me with a random song, and I'll sing it." Maria told Rouge.

"You sure?"

"I'm sure."

Nodding her head to Maria's suggestion, Rouge pressed the shuffle button to Tails' laptop (since most of the songs for Homecoming Idol are in there) and after waiting for a few seconds, an upbeat song started to play in the speakers, making everyone tap their feet in rhythm as Maria started to sing.

_Feel the adrenaline_

_Moving under my skin_

_It's an addiction_

_Such an eruption_

Shadow's mouth can only drop as he didn't expect Maria to sing a song like this! It seemed a bit... weird for her taste. But then again, Shadow hasn't seen Maria for over six years, so he wonders if Maria has changed her interests in music. Not to mention that her voice sounds really great, though not too great like Tikal's voice.

For everyone else, they can only smile as she sounds really great singing to an upbeat song. Especially Blaze. She didn't like the song due to the amount of auto-tune the original singer used, but with Maria singing it, she doesn't mind it at all.

_The sound is my remedy_

_Feeding me energy_

_Music is all I need_

_Baby, I just wanna dance_

_I don't really care_

_I just wanna dance_

_I don't really care... care... care_

_(You can feel it in the air... Yeah!)_

Maria twirled a little bit as the chorus is staring to appear, but before it can begin, she saw everyone clapping in rhythm to the song as they really enjoyed her surprise performance. Hell! She even saw Shadow clapping, not to mention he's smiling at her!

_Aw... Shadow... _Maria can only say in her thoughts before she can sing the chorus.

_She's been a crazy dita_

_Disco diva and you wonder_

_**Who's that chick? Who's that chick?**_

_Too cold for you to keep her_

_Too hot for you to leave her_

_**Who's that chick? Who's that chick?**_

After singing the chorus one more time, Maria spun around once before she went on her knees with her arms in the air, making a final pose as the music died out. Shortly after, everybody applauded for Maria's amazing performance, with Sonic whistling loudly as Maria walked back to her seat.

"Wow..." Shadow muttered underneath his breath.

"Amazing, isn't she?" Silver questioned Shadow.

"Yeah... But when did Maria arrived in Emerald High?"

"Oh! She arrived on Monday, and she's in our lunch period."

"Not to mention she's in our Advanced Theater Class." Sonic added.

"And in our English AP/Dual class." Rouge pointed out as well.

"Really?" Shadow asked his three friends.

"Yeah!" they answered.

"And we were surprised that you knew a person like Maria." Silver commented. "You two are a bit different from each other."

Shadow being quiet and private while Maria is a bit loud at times (not to the extent of Sonic) and is very open to others. Yeah, total opposites from each other.

"But you know what they say, opposites attract." Silver added as Rouge handed Tails his laptop back to him as she grabbed the mic from the floor.

"Alright, who's going to amaze us next?" Rouge asked.

Eager to sing, Amy raised her hand while chanting, "Oh, me! I want a turn!"

"Okay, Ames! Now what-"

"Wait!" Amy interrupted the model. "I want to do a duet with Blaze!"

"What?!" everybody exclaimed in surprise, mainly Blaze.

_Hell no, I don't want to do a duet. _Blaze wanted to say, but didn't. She already knew the song she's going to sing, and she doesn't want to do a duet. She is not a huge fan of duets as they required two people to sing together while sounding all perfect. No way that's going to happen.

"Everyone is doing a solo, so I thought I could to do a duet to be different from all of you guys. Not to mention it would be fun to sing it with Blaze!" Amy explained her reason to everyone before grabbing Blaze's hand. "Well Blaze, what do you say?"

Blaze wanted to say no, but since most of her friends are here witnessing this, she has no choice but to answer, "Alright. But just one duet."

"Yea!" Amy cheered as she dragged Blaze to the center of the room, grabbing the mic from Rouge's hand and a second one that's on top of the piano, giving it to the lavender-haired teen. "And we're going to sing 'Lupin' by Kara."

"You heard her, Tails! Play it!" Rouge told the twin tailed teen.

"Got it!" said Tails as he searched for the song Amy requested.

Soon, the music started to play, and Amy began to sing the opening to this mini-rap.

_Amy: Sing it with me now! 2-0-1-0! _

_We're bringing new love to the floor! _

_Rocking what's real La Couture! _

_We're opening new doors, new show, new world, new control!_

_Can you keep up? Oh!_

Just from the mini-rap, Amy's voice is really loud but confident and cheery, not caring if her singing voice is perfect. Just like how Sonic didn't care about his voice earlier.

_Both: Hello, hello, hello, hello hello_

_Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello_

_Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello_

_Hello, hello, catch, catch, hello hello!_

_Amy: Don't be afraid, I can hear your heart beating, shh_

_Just stand behind and watch me_

_Blaze: Burning, it begins, and finally, game set_

_Be flexible, as usual it's mine_

Blaze's voice on the other hand, sounds quiet and shaky compared to Amy's booming voice. Not to mention, like Sonic, she sounded a bit off when singing, only that she squeaked at times when she has to sing. It's not that she has stage fright when it comes to singing, but when Blaze sings, it always sounds like this. When everyone heard Blaze sung her part, almost everyone turned their heads in confusion as they barely heard Blaze's quiet singing voice. Silver and Rouge were the only ones who didn't turn their heads, which means that they heard Blaze just fine unlike everyone else, including Amy.

_Both: It's mine_

_This is mine_

_This is mine_

Knowing that Blaze needs some help, Silver opened his mouth a little bit while raising his left index finger a little higher in the air to tell Blaze that she has to sing a little louder in order for everyone in this room to hear her a lot better. Luckily, Blaze has caught on to what Silver is trying to say and right when the chorus appeared, the volume of her voice drastically changed from quiet to loud, though not matching to the volume of Amy's voice, but enough for everyone to hear her voice clearly.

_Both: Go up high, yeah, yeah, yeah!_

_Take all of the world, yeah, yeah, yeah!_

_Never back it up, backing it up!_

_Never turn it up, turning it up!_

Amy and Blaze finished singing their song by raising their mics high up in the air as their final pose when the music died out slowly after the last beat played. Once the music fully faded away, everyone in the room gave out a round of applause as Amy and Blaze returned the mics to the top of the piano before walking back to their seats.

"You guys sound amazing out there!" Cream commented to the two sophomores.

"Thanks." Amy and Blaze replied back their freshman friend.

"You liked it even though you couldn't hear me until the end?" Blaze questioned Cream.

"Yes." Cream nodded her head.

"And don't worry if your voice sucks!" Sonic popped in. "Some of us suck at singing!"

As in, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles (except in rap songs), and Cream were not so good with singing, but they really don't care as they have tons of fun singing their favorite songs. Or in the boys' case, have fun singing to a Justin Bieber song horribly.

"Well, I guess I'm part of the horrible singer club. Aren't I?" Blaze joked with Sonic.

"You bet you are!" Sonic played along with the joke. "And besides, you and Amy are going to have a blast singing that song tomorrow!"

"Speaking of singing, who wants to go next?" asked Tails, adjusting his laptop from his lap.

"How about we let Takeshi-san go next?" Cream suggested.

Espio, who was leaning against the chair for the whole time, suddenly sat straight once he heard his name being called to sing. Not wanting to sing, Espio protested, "What?! No way am I going to sing! Can't you let Shadow sing next?"

"I want it to be a surprise." Shadow simply replied as he looked at Maria's schedule.

"Venice?"

"Same thing." Silver answered as well, not wanting to sing "Soul Sister" until tomorrow.

"Takeshi," Tikal called to Espio, "just sing. I'm sure the song you're going to sing isn't that bad."

Sighing in defeat, Espio was about to get off of his seat, but before he can, the door ended up being kicked open by Knuckles, currently carrying his backpack and wearing his red Nike Jacket, gray shorts, and brown Adidas shoes all covered in dirt, and the older Shard sibling walked inside of the Choir room before taking a seat next to his little sister.

"Hey guys," Knuckles greeted his friends. "What are you doing?"

"Doing a little mini-karaoke session for tomorrow during Homecoming Idol." Silver answered to Knuckles. "You want a go?"

"Hell yeah!" Knuckles answered, raising his arms in the air. "But before I do, one of my teammates asked me to give Tikal this."

Knuckles searched through his pockets in his shorts for a few seconds before pulling out a piece of paper that's folded and gave it to his little sister. Tikal gulped nervously as she remembered that today is the day that all auditioners will receive a note from Student Council about what time they'll be released tomorrow and what time the auditioners are going to sing. Everyone else was worried that Knuckles might have read the note, freaking out at the sight of Tikal's name being in there, and will start asking everybody why he wasn't informed about this earlier. As in, a million questions that will make everybody late to their 1st period class. They all pray that this doesn't happen.

"Did you read the note, Kennith?" Tikal asked her brother as she looked at the note.

"No I did not read it." Knuckles responded casually. "Besides, it might be some cheesy love letter and you'll throw it away after reading it once."

_Thank god! _Everybody sighed in their thoughts as they were ready to watch Knuckles rapping to a song by B.O.B.

* * *

~1st Period: Chemistry AP (9:15 A.M.)~

While the rest of the students were writing out their Pre-Lab questions on their lab journals, Shadow ended up reading the pages of notes he missed for the past three days about Stoichiometry and has to solve the example problems on his own. Not to mention he has to read over the lab sheet he has gotten today and do the Pre-Lab questions in order to do the Lab about Stoichiometry in Chemical Reactions... by tomorrow. How much Shadow wants to tear the notes and that damn lab sheet into shreds! But Chemistry is Shadow's favorite subject, so completing it wouldn't be too much of a hassle. His other classes... He didn't want to think about it. Especially U.S History as he needs to read a crap load of assigned readings in order to get to where the class is in. Something about the colonies establishing their government and religion if he can remember.

As Shadow is about to get the next example problem on his notes, he noticed Maria is walking towards his lab table, and she sat down next to him with the notes fully filled out; including the example problems.

"You can copy my notes if you want." Maria offered to Shadow.

"I'd rather not if I can't solve these types of problems on my own." Shadow refused Maria's offer.

"Nonsense. I'll explain the steps for you once we have time. Is that alright?"

Another thing Shadow remembers about Maria is that she's extremely good with Science as her grandfather is a well known scientist/doctor that's trying to find a cure for multiple 'non-curable' diseases. Maria can make uncomplicated things like Chemistry and Math a whole lot easier to understand.

"I guess that's alright." Shadow agreed, now copying the example problems from Maria's notes.

"Good. Now, I know it might be a weird time to ask you this question," Maria started, "but what have you been doing since I last saw you?"

"A couple of things. Made new friends who have special 'gifts' like me, I'm still studying to become a doctor, got a job at Asia Diamond, volunteer at the Library at least three to four times a week, and I'm part of the track and tennis team."

"Eh? That's amazing, Shadow!" Maria exclaimed on the things Shadow has done since she last saw him. His list is very huge compared to Maria's imaginary list.

"Yeah. It is amazing. But..."

"But...?" Maria repeated the last word Shadow has said.

"During the six years since I last saw you, I thought you were dead after 'that' happened." Shadow replied, putting emphasis on 'that'.

Maria knew what Shadow meant by 'that'. 'That' event where she and Shadow were shot by some crazy man in the old neighborhood they grew up in, with the former being shot in the chest. Three. Times. And the last thing she saw before passing out from that accident was Shadow crying out her name while covering up his bloody right arm with his hand. That's the last time she ever saw Shadow... until now...

"I mean, when I saw a small puddle of blood coming out of your body, I thought you were gone forever as no one could have survived that." Shadow continued, clenching onto his pencil tighter than before.

"I thought I would be gone as well," Maria added, twirling a loose stand of her platinum blond hair around her finger, "but in the end, my grandfather saved me from dying at the last minute with something he made to heal any serious wounds."

"Really?"

"Yeah. But once he healed me, he told me that you moved away to a new neighborhood after 'that' happened, and mentioned that you thought that I was dead. I tried to call you, but since your home phone number changed, I couldn't tell you that I'm alive and not the other way around. And I came to a conclusion that if you thought I was dead, I should try and forget you."

...What?! Shadow never thought Maria would do that in the past six years! She would never forget anything that would happen to her (good or bad), but trying to forget a friend is something Maria would **never **do. **Never!**

"But I couldn't. I always wished that we could meet again every night, and here we are. Together once again." Maria concluded as she let loose of her platinum blond strands.

"Yeah..." Shadow said as he finished writing on his notes and started to work on the Pre-Lab questions with Maria.

And that felt nice...

* * *

~3rd Period: P.E. (11:05 A.M.)~

After bouncing the orange basketball for over ten seconds in the tennis courts (the one with basketball hoops on the opposite sides), Tikal attempted to toss the ball to the hoops, but ended up missing it by a large margin, rolling towards a group of Freshman girls who were gossiping about plans to see some movie instead of playing a sport like they were suppose to. Today in Gym, the class has a choice to play one of the three activities: basketball, soccer, or football. Tikal and Cream decided to do basketball (free throws to be exact) since the last two sports were too rough for them. Especially since most of the players were guys! Rabid guys to be exact, but at least they were being active like they're required to! Unlike half of the girls who were doing nothing at all!

Sighing from that attempt, Tikal was about to retrieve the ball from the gossiping Freshman, only for the ball to roll back to her since the girls carelessly (and luckily) kicked it back while talking. What are the odds of that happening? Tikal picked up the orange ball and was going to make another attempt on getting it into the hoop, but stopped as she felt Cream tapping her shoulder softly.

"Tikal, are you going to let me shoot again?" asked Cream.

She did have a good point. Cream did three free throws in the beginning before she gave the ball to Tikal after she politely asked if she can take a few shots. And 'a few shots' doesn't mean twelve throws in a row!

Without hesitation, Tikal gave Cream the orange ball and answered, "Sure, Cream."

"Thanks!" Cream exclaimed as she bounced the ball a few times. "So, are you excited about tomorrow?"

"Of course I am! I can't wait to perform for everyone and hear you guys sing for a while!"

"Me too!" Cream agreed with her friend. "I really want to hear what songs Mr. Shadow, Venice, and Takeshi-san are going to perform."

Right. Tikal and Cream didn't hear their songs this morning because of various of reasons. Shadow's and Silver's songs were going to be surprises, but Espio didn't get a chance since Knuckles barged into the Choir room right when it was Espio's turn to perform his song. That got Tikal thinking... What song is Espio going to sing anyway? Is Espio going to sing a rock song? A well-meaningful song? Who knows. She'll just have to wait until tomorrow to hear it. But Tikal doesn't want to wait for tomorrow to hear Espio's song. She wants to hear it now! Maybe the song is for-

Nah. That can't be.

As Tikal is thinking about what Espio's song might be, she ignored Cream's yelling for a few seconds until she spotted a stray black and white ball that's flying towards her-

BAM!

...Hitting her in the forehead before the ball flew over the chain gates of the tennis courts. Hard. Hard enough to fall to the floor.

Seeing her friend injured, Cream dropped the orange basketball before running towards Tikal and knelt down to rub the red mark on the forehead in order to sooth it a little better

"Tikal, are you okay?" asked Cream.

"Uh... Yeah. I'm fine, Cream." Tikal answered to the dirty blond.

"I was trying to warn you about the upcoming soccer ball that's heading towards you, but it seems you didn't listen to me since you were spacing out."

"Oops. I can explain why..."

But before Tikal can give an explanation on her thoughts to Cream, she spotted Espio and Tails running towards to where the girls were, with Espio grabbing Tikal's hands and quickly pulled her back up on her feet with no problems while Tails was searching for the soccer ball that went in the tennis courts, along with Cream.

"Takeshi..." Tikal can only say with her face blushing a bright shade of pink.

"Are you okay, Tikal?" Espio reiterated the question Cream asked before.

"Yes, I'm okay."

"Look, I'm sorry for hitting you in the head with a soccer ball. It was a complete accident." Espio apologized to Tikal. "I ended up kicking the soccer ball too hard and it ended up-"

"I understand, Takeshi. It was an accident and you didn't mean to hurt me. So it's fine."

"Thank god," Espio sighed in relief.

"Oh, and while you're here, can I ask you one question?"

"Sure."

_It better not be the question I asked her last week at Asia Diamond. _Espio thought. He already answered that question once on Sunday. He didn't want to answer it again! In front of his crush!

"Do you know what you're going to sing tomorrow?"

"To be honest, I have no idea what I'm going to sing." Espio answered before sighing in relief that Tikal didn't ask about the 'other' question. "Ryan told me in 1st period that he's going to choose the song for me. And I pray to God that it isn't a lame song."

"I'm sure he won't. He knows you very well anyway."

"Yeah."

Espio looked to where Tails and Cream were, outside the tennis courts, and groaned a little when he figured out that they still haven't found the soccer ball! God, Espio must have kicked the ball really hard.

While waiting for the two to come back with the ball, Espio and Tikal decided to lean against the fence, not saying a single word to each other. However, the silence between the two is quickly killing them, and Espio decided he should break the silent atmosphere by starting another conversation with Tikal. But what should he talk about?

Clearing his throat a few times, Espio started to speak. "So, do you know when you're going to perform tomorrow?"

"Um... Well... I'm dead last." Tikal admitted rather quickly. "I really wanted to go first just to get it over with, but it turns out I'm not going first."

"Hey. You know the old saying: 'Saving the best for last'." Espio commented. "Once it's your turn to perform, everyone will be amazed on your voice that you'll get to be a nominee for Homecoming Idol for sure. You should be thanking the person who decided the turn orders in the future."

"I should." Tikal agreed with Espio. "And speaking of thanks, I just wanted to say thank you for all the things you did for me last week."

"Really?"

"Yeah. If you didn't happen to catch me singing last week, then none of this would have ever happened in the first place. And to be honest, I'm glad that happened."

Tikal did have a point. If Espio didn't witness Tikal singing at Asia Diamond last week, then she would have never signed up for Homecoming Idol and overcome her fear of singing in front of others. It's all because of Espio that all of this is happening to Tikal.

"Me too." Espio replied back before he spotted Tails and Cream running towards the two, with Tails carrying the soccer ball.

"Hey Espio! Cream and I found the ball, so let's get back to the game." Tails told Espio.

"Sure thing. I thought you would never find it." Espio commented as he started to walk away from Tikal and Cream.

"What's that suppose to mean?!" Tails slightly yelled to Espio. "It's not like I'm the one who kicked it hard in the first place!"

"I didn't mean to kick it hard."

"Hard enough to knock Tikal cold?"

"That was an accident! I even told her..." Espio's and Tails' voice started to fade away as they walked away from the tennis courts, and the orange-yellow eyed teen took a quick glance to see Tikal waving her hand to him. Espio decided to wave back to Tikal without Tails noticing this as he's still rambling on about the soccer ball incident.

Noticing her friend's face blushing red while waving to Espio, Cream started to say, "Hey Tikal. I know this may sound stupid but, do you have a crush on Takeshi-san?"

"Eh?! What... What makes you say that, Cream?!" Tikal exclaimed in surprise, not expecting to hear that from Cream.

"Your face is blushing a bright shade red."

"Oh, great." Tikal quietly groaned.

"Well, do you have a crush on Takeshi-san or not?"

Should Tikal answer this question or not? She didn't want to admit her crush to Cream, but at the same time, she really wants to! Ooh, the choices she has to make...

Soon enough, Tikal took a deep breath before she blurted out, "Yes, I have a crush on Takeshi Kaneko!"

Silence between the Freshman girls surrounded them once Tikal made her confession to Cream. Like the silence with Espio a few minutes ago, it seemed so weird! Maybe Tikal shouldn't have admitted it out loud in the first place. This is a dumb idea anyway to Tikal. Luckily, it broke once Cream started to speak once again.

"You do?"

"Y...yes..." Tikal replied to Cream.

"How come?! How come?!" Cream demanded.

"Well... I have a crush on him because he's really kind, hard-working, smart, but most importantly, he's very honest to himself and others. That's why."

"Aw! That's so sweet!" Cream commented.

"I know. But you have to promise not to tell my brother! You just can't!"

Right. Because if Knuckles found out if Tikal has a slight interest on any boy (besides his friends), he'll freak out and attack the boy (he doesn't do that anymore).

"Don't worry! I promise! Besides, you and Takeshi-san would make a cute couple! Even more cuter than me and Mr. Tails! Can you just imagine how..."

Tikal couldn't help herself but to laugh quietly to herself on Cream's ramble about the day Tails will ask her out on a romantic date to a garden or a park. That got Tikal thinking if Espio would ask her out on a date one day. Maybe they'll go out to a nice restaurant, play in the park, or watch an action movie together (yes action is her favorite movie genre) if they ever went out on a date.

Just maybe...

* * *

~7th Period: Theater Arts II (2:30 P.M.)~

Due to the fact that the regular Theater Arts teacher had a family emergency, the class had a substitute teacher for the day and were enjoying themselves by watching "Shrek". While some of the students were enjoying themselves with this hilarious movie, others were trying to do homework in the dark, texting their friends in other classes, reading in the dark (wonder how that will work), or talking with each other; mainly about what's going to happen tomorrow. Apparently, that's what Amy and Blaze were doing, although they were talking quietly unlike the girls in the back who were chatting very loudly.

"Blaze, do you think you're ready to have an amazing time tomorrow?" asked Amy, eyes a bit focused on the movie.

"Yeah. Though I need to sing a bit louder..." Blaze told Amy. "I mean, I sang really quiet for the majority of the song, and the only reason I sang louder at the end was because Silver helped me by telling me to sing louder."

"By using sign language?" guessed Amy.

"Yep."

"Well that's really sweet for Silver to help you out. And I hope you do sing a little louder in order for everyone to hear."

"I'll try. Besides, singing isn't my forte."

"I can see that."

Obviously. Whenever Blaze finishes singing, the most common comments she has received from others were "too quiet", "off-tune", "a bit squeaky", "missed some of the words", and the list can go on for hours just to describe her singing voice. But that didn't bother Blaze too much as she doesn't sing a lot.

"But enough about our performance that's coming up tomorrow. I want you to answer my question that I'm going to ask you." Amy told Blaze, hands crossed and placed on the table.

"Uh... What's the question?" Blaze wondered.

_Please don't let it be about him... Please don't let it be about him... _Blaze prayed in her thoughts; 'him' being...

"Do you have a crush on **Silver**?"

_Should have seen this coming._

This is Saturday all over again for Blaze! Amy asked the same question again, only it's worded differently and they're at school! Great.

"I told you before, Amy. I like Silver as a friend. That's it." Blaze answered with her face turning a bright shade of pink.

"You sure?" Amy questioned Blaze as she saw her lavender-haired friend's pink face clearly despite the room being pitch black. "Because according to your face, you do have a crush on Silver."

"Uh..I don't!"

"Come on. Don't lie to me! Admit it. You have a crush on Silver."

"I don't!"

"Come on, come on, come on, come on..." Amy repeated the phrase to Blaze.

And from the looks of it, Amy won't stop until Blaze answers 'yes' to that question. But Blaze really didn't want to say 'yes' to Amy. Why?

Because...

"Alright. I... do have a crush on Silver." Blaze answered to Amy.

...It's true.

"Oh my god! I knew it!" Amy squealed. "So, tell me, why do you like Silver? Tell me, tell me, tell me!"

"God, I don't even know where to begin." Blaze muttered to herself before she started to tell her reasons to Amy. "Silver is just so... different from every guy I have met in my life."

"How come?" Amy wondered.

"Well, Silver is the first person who wanted to befriend me and the first person who accepted my powers. But the reason why I like Silver is because he's nice."

"All of our guy friends are nice."

Blaze had to agree with Amy with this one. All of the guys were nice in their own ways. Sonic throws a little joke in there to make everyone feel better, Tails has his modesty, Knuckles cares for others in a somewhat violent way, Shadow is blunt but wise, while Espio is honest. Silver on the other hand...

"I know, but Silver is 100% nice..." Blaze stopped for a moment as she thought about her comment on Silver. "No... Silver is so nice, it's like-"

"He's made out of niceness." Amy finished Blaze's sentence.

"H...how did you know I was going to say that?"

"Lucky guess."

Or the fact she has been reading that certain manga too many times, that she remembered that line. And that line is her favorite one!

"But anyway, is that why you like Silver?" asked Amy.

"Yes..." Blaze nodded her head.

"Ooh, if you have a crush on Silver, then that means he has a crush on you!" Amy started to make her theory.

"I doubt that's even true. Just because I have a crush on Silver doesn't mean he has one on me." Blaze pointed out.

"Trust me. He has a crush on you. So much, he'll sing a song dedicated to you tomorrow!"

"No he won't! Maybe he'll dedicate the song to everyone in this school." Blaze guessed.

"Though the majority of it will be about you." Amy added onto Blaze's guess.

"Eh?!"

"What? It could be. And throughout the song, Silver..."

The girls' conversation transformed from what's gonna happen tomorrow to Silver singing a song to Blaze in a matter of five minutes, and their voices grew a little louder than before. Luckily, it wasn't that loud to catch the attention of the substitute teacher or the students who were enjoying the movie. And from that conversation, some of Amy's predictions were true. Especially the part with Silver singing a song to Blaze. Amy did made a few guesses such as "Just the Way You Are", "For the First Time", "Lost in You", and "Love Struck, though she didn't got the name of the song Silver was going to sing.

Well, they have to wait 'til tomorrow to hear Silver sing the song.

* * *

**Author's Note: Hello there! I know Christmas ended three days ago, but here's your late Christmas present: a new chapter! And it wasn't easy to make this chapter to begin with (not to mention I had a cold), but I figured out how to write it in the end. Plus, I wanted to write the characters in different classes (without Silver and Blaze in the same class to be exact) like I did in Chapter 7, so tell me how I did!**

**And since Maria finally met Shadow (YEESSSS!), I'm doing Maria's name this time. Maria is Hebrew for "beloved; loved"; A reference to Shadow liking Maria. The last name Roth is German/Greek (don't know which one) for "red, wood, or renown"; Maria being the daughter of a renown scientist/doctor.**

**As for the poll result, the one with the most votes was Silver (75%, 9 votes), with Sonic, Espio, and Jet were tied in second (8%, 1 vote), while the others didn't get any. **

**Oh, and for any Kimi ni Todoke fans out there, can you find the line that was said in there? It's actually one of my favorites.**

**Song List: (that the characters singed to)  
**

**"Dance, Dance" by Fall Out Boy (Sonic)**

**"Who's That Chick" by Rihanna ft. David Guetta (Maria)**

**"Lupin" by Kara (Amy and Blaze) [Yes, I listen to K-Pop]**

**Also, what do you think the characters are going to sing? Do you want to suggest a certain character to sing a certain song? You can do that on your review or by PMing me! And Shadow's song is already decided (thank you TatlTails).**

**Anyway, if you like this chapter, please leave a review!**

**Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year! ;D**


	17. The Pre-Show

_The next day..._

~(Friday) Gym (1:20 P.M.)~

With only ten minutes to spare before the karaoke event starts, Sonic and Jet sighed in relief as they finally finished blowing up the green, gold, red, and silver balloons from the center of the basketball field while Tails had completed setting up the DJ stand for Sonic and the wireless microphones for the singers. Wave was here a few minutes ago to check if all the microphones, speakers, and lights were working properly, though she had to leave the gym in order to change into her Homecoming Idol outfit. Almost every girl in Emerald High was dressed all pretty for this event, so it would make sense if Wave looked a bit decent for only today.

Seeing the DJ stand completely set up on the right side of the gym, Sonic sprinted through the balloon covered floor to where Tails is, currently choosing a song from the laptop in order to make this event more lively.

"Tails, this set looks amazing!" Sonic commented while tapping his feet to this techno beat.

And Tails did have to admit, Sonic was right. The set had a mixer, a stand for the laptop to stay in place, two turntables, and a small device that controls all the lights set up in the gym. And Tails made the DJ set up during the summer.

"Thanks, Sonic," the twin-tailed teen replied to his friend. "And you and Jet did an amazing job with blowing up the balloons."

"It wasn't that easy to tell you the truth. I thought I was going to run out of oxygen blowing up about 200 multicolored balloons without a helium tank."

"It was utter hell!" Jet agreed with Sonic by yelling to him.

"At least it's over with and you can now take over the DJ stand," Tails said as he let his blue-haired friend play around with the set for a few moments.

"Alright!" Sonic cheered, scratching on the turntables to create a decent remix from the techno song that's playing while grabbing the wireless headset microphone from the laptop and putting it on his head. "This is going to be awesome!"

"Big time. And remember to play Rouge's selected song once it's 1:30. You got it?" Tails reminded Sonic about what Rouge told the two a few days ago.

"Sure thing, buddy!"

Since Rouge is the captain of the cheer-leading team and is going to do a little routine in the beginning anyway, it's fair that Rouge can at least start up the karaoke segment that's going to last until 2:30. Not to mention that everyone in the team doesn't have to wear the cheer-leading uniform, so this means Rouge can show off her casual blue dress while showing off her singing skills; especially to a certain deep-red haired teen.

And speaking of a 'certain deep-red haired teen', everyone had to distract Knuckles at lunch in order to get Tikal ready for Homecoming Idol. It ranged from Silver using psychokinesis to levitate Knuckles off the ground for a certain amount of time to Cream using her shrinking powers to get all over Knuckles' body, looking like he's having a fight with himself for those who don't know Cream's powers very well. And Sonic and Tails prayed that they didn't end up going with Maria's idea of locking Knuckles in the janitor's closet until it's Tikal's turn. Jeez, how can a sweet girl like Maria even think of a diabolical plan like that in the first place?! Wait... She did grew up with Shadow for a while, so maybe that's where she got that little 'evil' side from.

While Sonic finally made a nice remix to the song that's currently playing, the double doors were pushed open, revealing Wave entering the decorated gym.

Seeing his friend, Jet kicked a few of the balloons before greeting Wave with, "Hey, Wave! We've finished with everything, so-" but his sentence ended up being replaced by yelling, "Holy crap!" out loud once he saw Wave.

Curious on what caused Jet to do that, Sonic and Tails turned around to Wave leaning on the wall, and couldn't help but to gasp in awe, or in Sonic's case, dropping his mouth a bit causing the record to make a short scratching noise before letting it go. And all three of them, especially Jet, couldn't believe how Wave looked: wearing a light orange sleeveless casual dress with a thin white belt around the waist, black ballet flats, her hair pulled into a ponytail, still wearing her red orb necklace, and a few dangling silver bracelets on her left arm. My god... There's no words to describe how she looks. She never liked wearing dresses to begin with, but she really looked just... wow... And to think this is the same girl who helped with the technology part!

"What is it?" she asked the three boys who were still shocked on her looks.

"Uh..." they can only respond.

"'Uh...' isn't going to cut it. My mom is going to be here to take pictures for the auditions, and she wanted me to wear this stupid dress in the first place," Wave informed the guys.

Wave's mom, Katie, is a very well known photographer in all of Beverly Hills, owning a photography business called Solar Touches; a company well known for its photos for family portraits, graduation, weddings, and being the main company who makes the majority of shoots for the models appearing on _Glitter _magazine. And speaking of models, Katie wants Wave to become a model since she looks like one, but refuses due to the constant pressure models have to face (maintain a certain weight, can't eat certain things, etc.), though there's another reason why she didn't want to. But Wave doesn't want to think about that right now. Especially in a day where everyone is hyped up for.

"So, do you guys think I look stupid in this dress?" Wave wondered.

"Hell no." Sonic commented. "You actually look nice in that dress. Right, Tails?"

"Yeah," Tails agreed with his friend while nodding his head, "I never seen you in a dress, but you do look great in it."

"At least you guys didn't say anything dumb," Wave muttered under her breath before turning to her closest friend. "And short-head, you have anything to say about how I look?"

Sonic and Tails turned around to see Jet's face starting to turn a bright and obvious shade of red just on looking at Wave wearing a really pretty dress. Sure, Wave looked nice when she's just wearing a plain hoodie with ripped jeans, or a tank top with modest sized shorts, but seeing her like this... What is he going to say about Wave's looks without sounding so dumb?!

"Err..." Jet started, "You... You never looked so amazing than ever before."

Right when Jet finished complementing Wave, he heard Sonic and Tails snickering at him, trying to hold their laughter. The two knew Jet and Wave are very close friends, thinking these two would become something more than friends in the future (boyfriend and girlfriend). It didn't bother him at times, but right now, Jet really doesn't want to hear this right now. Clenching his fists together, Jet stomped on the ground before taking a deep breath and yelled to the giggling friends.

"WILL YOU TWO SHUT THE HELL UP?!" Jet demanded Sonic and Tails in a booming voice.

"S... Sorry Jet," Sonic and Tails apologized to the green-haired teen before bursting into laughter again, with Sonic falling to the ground, laughing and rolling once again.

"Just ignore them," Wave told Jet before walking towards him. "Anyway, were you really-"

"Yes," answered Jet before he can let Wave finish her question. "I'm being honest with you. 'Kay? Besides, it's been a while since I've seen you wearing a dress."

"Yeah, ever since-" Wave wanted to say 'that', but in the end, she decided against it and went with, "Never mind. I shouldn't mention 'that' event."

"You shouldn't. Besides, you wouldn't want to look all depressed on the event everyone has been dying for since the 1st three weeks of school. Am I right?"

"Big time, Jet," Wave agreed with Jet while looking at the time on her necklace. "And Sonic better stop laughing his ass off because people are starting to come here right now."

Right when he overheard the last part from Wave and seeing several people entering the decorated gym, Sonic jumped off from the floor and went straight to the DJ stand and started to play a new, upbeat electronic track from the laptop. Once the main beat appeared, Sonic started to scratch both turntables to create an amazing beat that the students can start dancing (or jump all over the bleachers as a group of freshman boys were doing) before Rouge and her cheer-leading team can make an appearance. Soon enough, the bleachers were starting to fill up with students all dressed up pretty for this event, and lowered the music a little bit in order for them to hear his voice in a moment.

"Hello there Emerald High! Ryan 'Sonic' Griffith here!" Sonic greeted the lively crowd. "I'm going to be the DJ for this amazing event, so before we start our karaoke session with our lovely cheer-leading captain, can I hear you guys make some noise?!"

Of course, everyone yelled out 'YEA!' as loud as they can to Sonic, ready to hear people singing songs that they are familiar with. The crowd yelled **extremely** loud, it caused Tails to literally jump and hover in mid-air until their cheers died out for at least 45 seconds.

_Man, everyone is really hyped up today. _Tails thought as his brown sperrys touched the ground.

"Alright! Now then, let's give out a warm welcome to the amazing Rouge Bayle!"

Everyone in the crowd erupted into loud cheers as Sonic darkened the gym lights a bit by using the device next to the laptop, and once it's dark enough, Sonic hit the button that shined the spotlight on Rouge, now wearing her blue dress with her accessories she bought during the weekend along with black heels, and her cheer-leading team, and played the track she's going to sing.

_Please don't stop the music_

Right when Rouge started to sing, everyone screamed even louder than before as she sounded amazing. Not to mention the dance routine Rouge and her team were pulling off is just astonishing! Even if some of them were wearing heels!

_Please don't stop the music_

_Please don't stop the music_

_Please don't stop the music_

Sonic decided to bob his head to the beat as Rouge started to sing the first verse of this popular song. This is the perfect song to start things off right!

_It's getting late_

_I'm making my way over to my favorite place_

_I gotta get my body moving_

_Shake the stress away_

_I wasn't looking for nobody_

_When you looked my way_

_Possible candidate, yeah!_

As Sonic listened to Rouge singing the upbeat song, he felt someone tapping on his shoulders and decided to turn around to see Amy, Blaze, Cream, Shadow, and Silver behind him, all of them wearing their special outfits for this event.

The girls were really rocking out the outfits they bought at the Grove during the weekend, with the shoes and accessories they added. Blaze wearing brown flats and a plain gold chain necklace, Cream wearing blue ballet flats, her hair let down with a blue headband, and a teddy bear necklace, and Amy wearing brown ankle boots (heel at three-inches) with a red rose clip on the right side of her hair. And out of the three girls, Sonic thought Amy looked the best since she really looked great when she's wearing green. Okay, Amy looked nice with every color Sonic can think of on top of his head, but mainly green due to her eye color!

As for the guys, Shadow wore a slightly baggy blue shirt with a black blazer completely unbuttoned, black pants that are slightly ripped, black loafers, and a silver cross necklace. While Shadow dressed casually for the most part, Silver looks likes he's dressed for some fancy party. Silver decided to wear a white dress shirt with a black vest buttoned, a black tie, black dress pants, and dark brown sperrys.

"Hey guys!" Sonic greeted his friends. "And I've got to say, you all look amazing!"

"Aw, thanks Sonic," Amy replied back to Sonic in a sweet tone. "You look amazing yourself."

Since Sonic is the DJ, he decided to dress simple in a black t-shirt that has "XLR8" on it, black fingerless gloves, dark jeans, and his red and white Soap shoes. He didn't think that anyone, especially Amy, would think he complement on his outfit greatly.

"Really?" Sonic questioned Amy's comment.

"Yep!" Amy cheerfully answered.

"Nice to hear that," Sonic said to Amy before clearing his throat to speak to his friends. "So anyway, how's Knuckles doing?"

"Just fine," answered Blaze.

But before Sonic can open his mouth to ask Blaze a question, Shadow beat the azure-haired DJ by saying, "And no, we did not lock him in the janitor's closet."

Sonic sighed in relief from hearing the news that Knuckles isn't tortured from the closet no student never wants to enter in their whole lives.

"So where is he?" asked Sonic.

"He's in the nurse's office," Silver answered to Sonic's question.

"Huh? Can you explain to me why Knuckles is in there in the first place?"

"We made up an excuse that Tikal was sent there since she 'threw up' during lunch and he literally stormed through the halls just to 'see her'," Silver explained to Sonic, putting emphasis on "threw up" and "see her".

"Nice. And I'll bet he's going to tear down the office when he realizes that his sister isn't there."

"I hope Mr. Kennith doesn't do that," Cream muttered to herself.

"Oh, don't worry, Cream! He won't do something stupid as that," Amy reassured Cream.

"So don't worry about him for now," Blaze added. "Right now, let's just enjoy Rouge's performance. Okay?"

"Okay, Miss Barbara," Cream nodded her head.

_Do you know what just start it?_

_I'm just here to party_

_But now we're rocking on the _

_Dance floor acting naughty_

_Your hands around my waist_

_Just let the music play_

_We're hand in hand_

_Chest to chest_

_And now we're face to face_

While the others were enjoying the performance Rouge is putting on, Sonic quickly pulled Silver near him without anyone noticing due to the fact the gym is dark. Once he's sure no one is hearing this, Sonic started to snicker quietly, making Silver uncomfortable on Sonic's actions.

"What? What's so funny, Sonic?" Silver demanded Sonic.

"Well, it's just that compared to what us guys are wearing, you look like you're going to propose to someone," Sonic confessed as he gave out one tiny laugh.

It's true. Tails is wearing a plain brown polo shirt with khakis while Jet wore a light blue and orange plaid shirt with dark brown jeans and blue Converse. Even though they dress a bit nicer than usual like they would on a school day, they dressed casually like Sonic and Shadow.

"Eh?! Why do you care on how I look?" Silver wondered, hiding his blushing face.

"Because, I'm thinking you're dressed like this to impress 'a certain someone'," Sonic answered, putting air quotes on the last three words.

"No I'm not!"

"Admit it, Vennie. You're doing this for Blaze. Am I right?"

_Damn it, Sonic! _Silver shouted in his thoughts. As Sonic mentioned, he did this in order to impress Blaze while singing "Soul Sister" whenever Sonic tells him to perform for now.

"Uh..." Silver tried to hide the truth from Sonic.

"I knew it. It's for Blaze," Sonic confirmed.

Having no other options, Silver sighed deeply before admitting to Sonic, "Yep. You're right, Sonic."

"Yes! And let me guess, before the song starts, you'll mention that this song is for a 'special' somebody. That 'somebody' being Blaze."

"Are you like a mind reader or something? Because that's what I was going to do."

"No way! Mind reading is Tikal's job!" Sonic denied Silver's theory. "And speaking of Tikal, where is she?"

"Getting ready with Maria in the Girl's locker room." Silver informed Sonic.

"Oh. Well, they have plenty of time to get ready since Tikal is going last anyway."

"Yeah. Plenty enough to surprise Knuckles and everyone in here."

"And leave a huge impression on Espio on overcoming her fear of stage fright."

"Let's just hope he comes here as soon as possible," Silver muttered underneath his breath.

"Why?" Sonic wondered as he faced back to watch the performance.

"Err..." Where could Silver begin anyway?

* * *

~Front of the School (1:35 P.M.)~

Tapping his feet on the floor for the past five to ten minutes, Espio is patiently waiting for Vector to arrive here with a bouquet of flowers. Why? He thought he should give something simple yet sweet for Tikal as a good-luck gift before she's able to perform in front of the entire school. And Espio thought his guardian could have done this easily ten minutes ago, but no! Vector is still not here! It doesn't take a long time to pick a bouquet of flowers! What could be taking him so long? Traffic? Can't find the right kind of flowers? Or maybe he just-

SLAM!

_Finally,_ Espio sighed as he spotted Vector carrying a bouquet full of red hibiscus and violet roses wrapped in light pink tissue paper.

"Sorry 'bout that, Espio," the older guardian apologized to the sixteen year old, "There was a long line at the florist shop, so I couldn't make it here on-"

Understanding Vector's excuse very quickly, Espio told his guardian, "That's fine, Vector. At least I'm able to give Tikal something."

"Thank god!" Vector sighed in relief as he handed Espio the bouquet. "I thought you would get mad at me."

"Mad at you over getting some flowers? Ridiculous," Espio commented while attaching something inside of the bouquet. "Besides, I got to-"

"Deliver these flowers to impress 'the girl from your dream'?" Vector finished Espio's sentence, putting emphasis on 'Tikal', using that name since Espio dreamed of Tikal just last week.

Hearing Vector mention 'Tikal' is enough for Espio to blush really hard, that he had to cover his blushing red face with the bouquet to prevent Vector from laughing at not only Espio's actions but for his appearance. Like Silver, Espio dressed a whole lot differently for this day: A black dress shirt with a brown vest, neat gray pants with a white belt, and recently shined brown shoes. So far, there's no sign of laughter... Until the purple-haired teen heard a few giggling noises behind him, and knew that wasn't his guardian laughing at him. Instead, it was-

"Surprise!" three familiar voices yelled in excitement as they all jumped on Espio's back, causing him to lose all of his balance before falling to the tiled floor.

"Ow ow ow..." Espio muttered before looking at the three victims who did this to him: Charmy, Marine, and Bean. "Guys... what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at school?"

"Didn't we mention you this earlier, mate? Today was early release for all the elementary and middle schools," Marine informed Espio.

_Right. I totally forgot about that, _Espio sighed as he face-palmed himself for being an idiot on forgetting it was half-day in the other two school levels.

"And since Tikal is going to sing, we all thought we can cheer her on!" Charmy jumped in as well.

"Not to mention hear all of you guys sing," Bean added as well.

Right. Espio has to sing at some-point during the karaoke segment, and Sonic already chose the song for him. He still prays it's not stupid.

"Alright. I guess that's understandable," Espio sighed as he started to walk away. "You guys can watch, but don't make any stupid noises. You got that?"

"Yea!" all three third graders agreed with Espio and with the exception of Marine, started to run to the gym despite them not knowing where it is in the first place.

Seeing that, Espio broke into a sprint to catch up to the two troublemakers and yelled, "Get back here! You're going to get lost!"

"No we're not!" Charmy replied back to his older brother figure.

"Oh, yes you are!"

Well, this might as well take a while as Espio is chasing the two eight-year-old boys all around the entire school for who knows how long. And for once, he wishes that Sonic was here just to catch them all with no problems. But nope. He has to deal with them due to Sonic's duties as the DJ for the auditions.

He wonders how that event is going so far...

* * *

~Back at the Gym (1:45 P.M.)~

After Rouge finished her amazing performance (now gone to the Girl's Locker room to get Tikal ready), along with Amy and Blaze who performed "Lupin" by Kara a few minutes ago, Shadow decided to sing his personal favorite song in front of everyone, while stating, "This song is dedicated to a very special friend of mine," before the music started to play. All of his friends, especially Rouge, knew who that 'special friend' is (Maria) and why he's singing this: It almost describes their relationship perfectly. Even though she's not here, she'll at least see it later on as Tails is going to record Shadow's performance.

Knowing the part where the first verse begins, Shadow took a deep breath before singing:

_So long ago I don't remember when_

_That's when they say I lost my only friend_

_Well, she said she died easy of a _

_Broken heart disease_

_As I listened through the cemetery trees_

Almost every girl in the gym screamed with joy as they heard Shadow's deep yet soothing singing voice from this old song. In fact, they screamed so loud, that his friends had to cover up their ears to prevent hearing the squeals of his fan-girls (Yes, Shadow has fan-girls at school). Once they think the dreaded noises have died out, they all sighed with relief and continued listening to the rest of Shadow's song.

_I seen the sun comin' up at the funeral at dawn_

_The long broken arm of human law_

_Now it always seemed such a waste_

_She always had a pretty face_

_So I wondered how she hung around this place _

While listening to Shadow, Silver turned his head a little to see Blaze fanning herself with her hand after performing her duet with Amy. During the performance, he noticed that Blaze was a bit nervous with her voice shaking at certain parts of the song and almost tripped herself at least three times, but despite that, her voice was heard by everyone throughout the entire song and at the end, she ended up laughing with Amy on their performance. Silver knew that Blaze had an amazing time performing, and he wanted to give a complement to her, but couldn't due to being cut by Sonic a few moments ago. But maybe he can do that right now since everyone is too busy watching Shadow's performance.

Silver lightly tapped Blaze's shoulder in order to get her attention, and after two taps, Blaze turned to face the yellow-eyed teen.

"Silver, what is it?" asked Blaze, wiping some sweat from her forehead.

"Um... I just wanted to say you and Amy did a great job on your performance out there," Silver commented before he cleared his throat.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Even though I almost fell down a few times?"

"At least I can hear your cute voice. That's one of the biggest highlights on that performance."

"Oh, wow. That's really nice-" Blaze stopped her sentence for a moment when she heard Silver mention 'that' word, "Wait... Silver, did you say my voice was 'cute'?"

"Huh? When did I say that?"

"Just a few seconds ago..."

"EH?! I did?!" Silver exclaimed in a voice that only Blaze can hear.

"Yea you did. And no one said that my singing voice was 'cute' before besides my parents," said Blaze. "That's really nice of you to comment about it, Silver."

"Hey, it's no problem," Silver replied back. "And if you think your voice is cute, wait 'til you hear mine when I'm going to sing next."

"Eh? Is your voice so amazing that it'll give your 'fan-girls' a heart attack?" Blaze guessed, putting emphasis on fan-girls since Silver has a lot of them in this school.

"Maybe..."

_And it might give her one as well... _Silver added in his thoughts, thinking about the song he's going to sing.

_Hey, Come on try a little_

_Nothing is forever_

_There's got to be something better than_

_In the middle_

_But me and Cinderella_

_We put it all together_

_We can drive it home_

_With One Headlight_

After hitting the final note, the music slowly faded away and is quickly replaced with the numerous cheers from Shadow's fan-girls before he walked away from the center of the stage. Everyone thought the screams from the dreaded fan-girls was over, but it instead grew louder once Shadow passed the microphone to Silver.

"Everybody, give it up for Vennie singing "Soul Sister"!" Sonic announced as the gym ended up being surrounded by the cheers from the fan-girls, and to some extent, several cheers from Silver's male classmates.

"Thanks, Sonic. Now, this song is dedicated to everyone here as a reminder that we're all amazing in our own way!" Silver exclaimed as the music started to play and singed the first parts of the song.

"Aw! That's so sweet of Mr. Venice to say something like that!" Cream said as she heard Silver's sweet sounding voice. "Don't you think so too, Miss Amy?"

"Yeah," Amy agreed with her best friend, "Besides, that's Silver for you. Doing things to make everyone happy the best way he can."

"And he's doing a good job with that," Cream commented as she witnessed a few girls in the audience gazing at Silver like he's part of a famous boy band.

"So much, that it's making Blaze blush like crazy." Amy pointed out, noticing that Blaze's face is turning into a bright shade of a mix of red and pink as she watched Silver impressing the wild crowd.

Hearing that comment from Amy, Blaze looked at herself and shook her head multiple times to get the red color off of her face, and told Amy, "Hey! I'm not blushing!"

"Yes you are," Amy pointed out, "You totally love the performance Silver is doing. Don't ya?"

"Uh... No I don't!" Blaze refused Amy's statement. "I mean, I like his performance, but not to a larger extent like his fan-girls."

"She's lying," Wave popped into their conversation as she now stood next to Blaze, tossing the wireless headset mic (it's off) and catching it with no problems. "She totally loves the act Silver is putting. I can tell based off her eyes."

"What do you mean?"

Wave decided to grab a compact she had found in the hallway earlier today, and opened it in order to let Blaze see how her eyes look like at this moment. Blaze saw that her eyes are bigger and a bit shinier than before and noticed her face is still blushing, only it's much brighter than before. Instead of a red-pink shade, it's a dark shade of red! Oh, god! Who knew that could happen to Blaze just because she watched Silver's great- No, wait- spectacular performance!

But it's not because of his voice (it sounds awesome), but it's because of the lyrics of the song he's singing. Even though Silver said this song is for everyone, it feels like this song is for Blaze because she has found a group of people who have special powers just like her and it's all thanks to an accident that's been caused by Silver. And if she hasn't been hit by the ball by Silver, then all of the events she had done last week would have never happened. She'd be living the same day for the rest of her life without throwing a little spice to mix things up a little. Now, she's grateful that she has met Silver and the others, enjoying life like it was meant to be.

However, Blaze's train of thought was broken when Wave shut the compact in front of her face, and asked the lavender haired-teen, "Are you done staring at the mirror?"

"Uh... Yes," Blaze answered nervously, "Sorry about that."

"It's fine," Wave sighed as she threw the compact away, "Now at least Rosie and Cream knows how your face looks like when you're going gaga over Silver."

"Eh?!" Blaze exclaimed as she heard Amy and Cream trying their best not to giggle on what Wave has commented. "Hey! I-"

But before Blaze can say anything to defend herself from that comment, the double doors suddenly burst open, revealing Charmy and Bean running away from Espio, currently carrying a neatly arranged bouquet of flowers with him, Vector and Marine before they all stopped near the DJ stand. Luckily, not a lot of people noticed that as they're too busy with watching Silver's performance.

Seeing his little brother, Jet turned around to where Bean is and asked him, "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"Watching you guys sing, _kuya_!"

"Seriously?"

"I am! And to cheer on _Ate_ Tikal as well! She needs as much support as much as possible! Right?"

"She sure does," Espio popped into the conversation, "Tikal will be happy that you showed up. And once she sees Kennith, she'll have a lot more confidence than before."

"_Talaga_?" (Really?)

"Yep," Espio answered as he understands a little Tagalog before turning to Sonic who witnessed what happened, "Sorry that I'm a little late, Ryan."

"No problem," Sonic commented as he looked at the time of how long the instrumental is going to last, "And you're just in time to perform with Jet."

"WHAT?!" both of them exclaimed in surprise.

"Are you freakin' serious?!" Jet asked the blue haired DJ.

"Yes. Yes I am," Sonic confirmed the fact.

"But I have to deliver these to Tikal right now, Ryan!" Espio told Sonic, showing him the beautiful flowers. "Can't I perform-"

"I'll deliver them if you want to, Espio," Wave volunteered herself, overhearing the conversation while grabbing the bouquet of flowers off of his hands.

"Are you sure, Luana?"

"Yeah. It's no problem, anyway."

"You're just doing it in order to get away from _inay_. Am I right?" Jet asked his best friend.

"Hell yes I am," Wave answered, knowing what Jet is saying before she stormed out of the gym and is now on her way to the Girl's Locker room.

And once Wave left the gym, Silver ended up finishing his song and left the center of the stage, giving the microphone to Espio while Sonic tossed the headset mic to Jet. Once all of the positive noises died out, Sonic signaled both Espio and Jet to the center of the basketball court before he found the certain song they're going to sing.

"And that's my best buddy with that awesome song for all you guys!" Sonic cheered, along with the crowd before it died out again for at least twenty seconds. "Now, let's have Espio and Jet sing this great song! Shall we?"

The audience once again cheered with joy once Sonic hit the play button on his laptop, and both Espio and Jet knew what song they're going to sing due to the familiar beat. Right when the main part appeared, both of them started to sing:

_Both: Baby are you down_

_Down, down, down, down _

_[Down, down]_

_Even if the sky is falling down_

_[Down, down]_

Of all the songs Sonic had to choose, he had to make Espio, along with Jet, sing "Down" by Jay Sean. But luckily, both of them knew the words to both versions of this popular song (rap and without rap). And if the instrumental Sonic played had the rap part, then Espio expects Jet to do that part since he's horrible with rapping. But earlier, Sonic told Espio that the song he's going to sing won't have any rap at all, so he doesn't have to worry about it at all. Thank god.

_Espio: You oughta know_

_Tonight is the night to let it go_

_Put on a show_

_I wanna see how you lose control_

_Jet: So leave it behind_

_Cause we have a night to get away_

_So come on and fly with me_

_As we make our great escape_

Hearing the two's deep yet great singing voice, the crowd screamed a bit louder and started to clap to the beat of the song as they sang the main chorus of the song.

_Both: So baby don't worry_

_You are my only_

_You won't be lonely_

_Even if the sky is falling down_

_You'll be my only_

_No need to worry_

_Baby are you down_

_Down, down, down, down_

* * *

~Girl's Locker Room (1:54 P.M.)~

Sitting down on the bench while facing on the mirrors on the walls, Tikal is letting Maria curl her hair with a curling iron while Rouge is putting a bit of concealer on her face before applying a bit of powder in order to make the concealer set, and prevent it from looking a lot shiny when she gets on the spotlight. These two junior girls, especially Rouge, wants Tikal to look her best before she performs and surprises her brother and the audience. And Tikal had to admit, she looks more gorgeous than how she looks like in a daily basis.

"Okay, sweetie. All I need to do is to put some eye shadow, mascara, and lipstick and you're good to go!" Rouge announced to Tikal.

"Is all of that necessary?" Tikal questioned the model. She's fine with the concealer and lipstick, but a bit uneasy with the make-up for her eyes.

"Of course! I'll put a little bit of blue eye shadow and mascara on you, so don't worry."

"And trust Rouge on this one, Tikal," Maria added as she started curling another part of her hair, "She knows how much make-up one person needs."

Right. Tikal totally forgot about that fact for a moment. Rouge knows how to handle make-up when it comes to Tikal, Amy, and all of her friends. Not to mention their clothing style as well. Out of everyone, Rouge is **the **fashion expert; both in the boys and girls section.

"Yeah," Rouge agreed with her childhood friend before she pulled a tube of mascara and a container of blue eye shadow from her small black and pink make-up bag, "So all you have to do is close your eyes and let me do my magic. Before you know it, you'll look fabulous in less than two minutes. I promise, sweetie."

But before Rouge is able to open any of her make-up products, she heard the sound of the door opening, and decided to see who's there, hoping it's not a boy. Luckily, Rouge sighed in relief as she spotted Wave carrying a bouquet full of red hibiscus and violet roses, along with a blue envelope inside of it.

"Thank god, it's only you," Rouge commented as she walked back to Tikal, starting to put mascara on Tikal.

"Who else would it be? Queen Bitch?" Wave replied back to the cheerleader as she leaned on one of the lockers. "Besides, I'm here to deliver these flowers to Tikal for Espio since he's out there performing with short-head."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. You wanna see? The camera twin-tails is using is connected to my orb, so you'll get to see it," Wave informed the girls inside the locker room, while using the nickname she uses for Tails.

"Sure!" Rouge and Maria agreed, with the latter finishing up the last strands of Tikal's orange hair.

Once Wave removed the red orb from her necklace, she opened it in order to find the option that allows her to view what the camera is catching. Eventually, she got the footage she needs and put the screen in the size where everyone can see Espio and Jet performing the hit song "Down". And the four have to admit, the two boys sound awesome!

_Jet: Just let it be_

_Come on and bring your_

_Body next to me_

_I'll take you away_

_Turn this place into a private getaway_

_Espio: So leave it behind_

_Cause we have a night to get away_

_So come on and fly with me _

_As we make our great escape_

_Both: So why don't we run away?_

"Damn..." Rouge commented on the performance, "Who knew they can sing like that?"

"Not me," Wave admitted, knowing she hasn't heard Jet sing for who knows how long.

"I know. Takeshi's voice sounds fantastic!" Tikal added, looking at her crush. "Right?"

"He sure does," Maria agreed with Tikal while wiping a few strands of hair from her yellow top.

"Hell yeah, and I'm guessing the two are singing this song just for you girls," Rouge pointed to Wave and Tikal.

Oh god. Why did Rouge had to say that? Really? Now both of their faces are in a shade of pink just because of that comment! But Rouge did have a point, for once. This song has a different meaning to the two girls. For Wave, it's about how Jet is always there for her when times in her life are rough and will cheer her up by having fun together. As for Tikal, it's more of Espio helping her escape from being protected by Knuckles and leaving her shy and timid self whenever he's there; not to mention he treats her like she's a normal person and not a princess to Knuckles. Okay, the princess thing can be great at times, but she really doesn't want that for her entire life. The one thing that the two meanings have in common is being free from what's holding them back (Wave with her mom and Tikal with her personality and Knuckles).

Noticing the color of their faces, Rouge told the two girls, "Oh! I was right!"

But before Wave can reply something back to Rouge, the sound of the door opened again, and all of the girls, especially Wave and Rouge, were displeased on who entered the locker room: Sally. However, unlike the days where she's dressed in a revealing outfit, she's dressed in a more modest fashion that still made her look pretty: her hair slightly curled, a light shade of pink lipstick, a white-gray tank top with a yellow ribbon on the side, faded denim jeans with a brown belt, and blue Converse.

"Oh god," Wave groaned loudly, "What the hell are you doing here?"

The girls expected Sally to answer in a sarcastic and snappy tone, but instead, she calmly answered, "Nothing much. I'm just here to wish Tikal good luck on her auditions."

Instead of replying nicely, Rouge ended up laughing at her before saying, "Oh, nice one, Sally! You're going to wish Tikal good luck before you and Queen Bitch decide to humiliate her during her performance."

"Like I'm going to do that to her."

"I'm not buying that load of bullsh-"

"Rouge!" both Tikal and Maria yelled at Rouge to prevent her from cussing too badly.

"Sorry about that." Maria apologized to the brunette.

"Are you serious about what you said?" Wave questioned Sally, thinking she has something up on her pretty little sleeve. "You're not going to do something horrible to Tikal. Are you?"

"I'm not," Sally answered to Wave before looking to Tikal, wearing her outfit she has bought during the weekend. "Besides, she'll be a nominee no matter what. So there's no point of me ruining her chances anyway."

None of the girls couldn't believe what they were hearing. Usually, when either Queen Bitch or her minions (Sally, Mina, and Scourge) encounter them, they usually leave a nasty comment that's sure to break them apart. But with Sally, it sounds like she's serious about the words she has left for Tikal. Not to mention there's no hint of sarcasm in her tone of voice at all.

Sally suddenly stuffed her left hand into her pockets of her jeans and pulled out something shiny. The item was soon revealed to be a gold necklace that has a pink rose with a few diamonds on it. She unhooked the necklace and quickly put it on Tikal before walking away from the four girls.

Looking at the necklace that Sally gave her, Tikal quickly asked the brunette, "Sally! Why did you give me this necklace?"

She didn't turn to face the freshman, but answered, "It's a gift for you. It'll make you a lot confident when you perform. I promise," before she finally exited out of the locker room.

Right when Sally left, Rouge ended up slapping herself in the face from what she has witnessed today. Sally acting like an actual human being! What are the odds of that happening? 1 in 50,000,000 to be exact.

"Did that actually happen?" Rouge asked the three girls about Sally's actions.

"Yeah," they all answered honestly.

"Maybe she changed after what happened at The Grove," Maria thought of a possible answer, referring the horrible scene that happened to them (minus Wave for obvious reasons).

"I doubt Princess Bitch changed her nasty ways!" Rouge refused Maria's theory. "Hell, she might not even feel guilty about the whole incident last week!"

...But unknown to the four girls, Sally did in-fact changed... Not to mention she felt guilty as hell for her actions.

* * *

**Author's Note: And speaking of feeling guilty as hell, I'm incredibly sorry for keeping you guys waiting for so long to get this story updated! But now, the next chapter to Gray Flame is finally here (yea!)! Not to mention it's part one of the Homecoming Idol auditions! Yep, there's going to be three parts to this, so what's going to happen next?**

**Now for names, let me go with Sally. Her first name is Hebrew for 'princess'; referencing the fact she's the second best, the first being Fiona. The last name Acerbi is Italian for 'heartless', acting all mean... up to this chapter at least.**

**Speaking of which, I never meant for Sally to have a change of heart until after completing Chapter 15, where I decided that Sally should break away from Fiona's group. Not to mention that there are a few fanfics where Sally decides to stop her nasty ways and be a decent person. Oh, and before I get questions about this, Sally doesn't have a crush on Sonic and won't have a rivalry with Amy like in most high school fanfics. Just saying.**

**Songs mentioned:**

**"Please Don't Stop the Music" by Rihanna (Rouge)**

**"Lupin" by Kara (Amy and Blaze; singed it last chapter)**

**"One Headlight" by The Wallflowers (thank you TatlTails for that suggestion) [Shadow]**

**"Soul Sister" by Train (Silver)**

**"Down" by Jay Sean (love it without the rap; that doesn't mean I hate the one with Lil' Wayne with a passion) [Espio and Jet]**

**If you loved this chapter, please leave a review! And I promise it won't take me two months to update this fanfic! And there's a poll about the girls in this story! Check it out if you want!**

**Until then, later! ;D**


	18. Showtime

_"Maybe she changed after what happened at the Grove."_

_ "I doubt Princess Bitch changed her nasty ways! Hell, she might not even feel guilty about the whole incident last week!"_

Even after Sally left the locker room, she can clearly hear the two juniors talking about her very clearly. And the last comment she heard from Rouge made Sally tightened her hands into fists; furious that the cheer-leader doesn't believe in her words. They weren't lies... No... Like the blond girl mentioned (Sally can't remember if her name was Marie or Maria), she did change after the incident last week. And boy, does Sally remember it clearly.

After she witnessed Blaze running out of Chick-fil-a with tears streaming out of her eyes, Sally felt a small ping of guilt racing in her heart for hurting Blaze deeply. She wanted to rush out of the restaurant and apologize to the amber-eyed teen, but she can't because she was with the Queen Bee of the school: Fiona. If Sally did that in front of Fiona, she would get scolded by her harshly, and might get kicked out of the group. Sally didn't want to do that... No way would she do that. So Sally decided to do nothing and ended up getting scolded by not only Blaze's friends but by the entire restaurant! Yes, Fiona and Mina were being scolded as well, but Sally took the worst scolding she has ever received in her life. Hell, one of the customers even mentioned she's the biggest bitch in the universe!

That's the comment that made Sally think about her actions she has made ever since she joined Fiona's group. See, she didn't start off as a mean bitch or a part of Fiona's posse. If anyone can believe it, Sally was actually a sweetheart towards everyone, and had **actual** friends. Three to be exact.

The first one was Bunnie Ramirez; an optimistic tomboy who has metallic legs and a metallic arm (left) due to a fire accident. Not to mention she possessed massive super-strength and the cutest southern accent Sally has ever heard in her life.

Her other friend was Julie-Su Eaton; a stubborn yet caring girl who can master at least thirty different types of guns in the world at the age of 16. And if that's not enough, she also helped alongside with her father, a detective, on a few cases.

Her last and oldest friend was Nicole Lyon; a loyal and honest girl who had an IQ of at least a supercomputer. And speaking of which, Nicole can also invent some pretty amazing inventions such as a laser ring, a freeze ray, and even a computer that can never break.

These three girls were much better friends than Fiona and Mina combined by a landslide, even though she left them in the 7th grade. Sally started to break away from her true friends when she received an invitation to Fiona's 14th birthday by Mina since Sally 'fit in' perfectly with the crew, and ever since then, she started to hang with Fiona and her crew instead of her three close friends. Not to mention her sweet attitude transformed into a nasty one; not caring about others but herself and her 'friends'. And that lifestyle felt so much better than her previous one.

That is until last Saturday! Ever since that day, Sally vowed herself to fix everything she has done wrong over the last three years in order to be treated with respect, not fear. But it's a lot difficult than she realized. Whenever she tried to make a nice conversation with those she harmed, she ended up receiving comments like:

_ "Don't talk to me __**you dumb bitch**__."_

_"Stay away from me!"_

_ "Haven't you and your crew done enough damage to us?"_

And the list can go on for hours, but there were a lot nasty comments Sally received that had very vulgar language that she can't even handle. She even tried to talk to Nicole, but she gave Sally the silent treatment. Same thing with Julie-Su. With Bunnie, however, the two had a decent conversation, mentioning that she's auditioning to be a nominee for Homecoming Idol, along with Julie-Su and Nicole. At least one of her former friends treats Sally like a normal person, even after what she did in the past.

After recalling the events that happened to her three years ago, Sally's fists started to go back into hands before walking back to the main gym where she can hear somebody singing (maybe Tails?) "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen and she's only halfway there for god's sake! As Sally saw the double doors to the main gym, Sally ended up seeing both Scourge and Mina leaning on the walls next to the doors, and like everyone in this school, they got dressed up for this event.

Mina is wearing a one strap black, pink, and gray short dress with a black ribbon on the waist and pink heels while Scourge is wearing a black dress shirt and black pants with brown loafers. While the latter dressed a bit decently, the former looked like she's going to a club in Sally's opinion. If that's how Mina is going to dress, then Sally can't imagine what Fiona is wearing right now! Probably something revealing that will make the boys drop their mouths to the floor or make their pants- Whoa! Don't want to go there!

Seeing her 'friends', Sally asked them, "What are you guys doing here? And where's Fiona?"

"Oh, to answer your first question," Scourge spoke up, "We're here because we need you to do a little favor for us."

"What kind of favor?"

"We want you to screw up all the auditions in anyway you can."

_Hell no! _Is what Sally would yell to Fiona's green-haired boyfriend. There's no way she's going to do that because her old friends are going to be auditioning as well! But luckily, she decided not to say that in front of Scourge, and instead said, "Why do you want me to do that?"

"Simple. It's so that my babe can have a better chance of becoming Homecoming Idol. Duh." Scourge answered.

"Not to mention there's too many good voices out there," Mina added, flicking her blond hair, "So in other words, eliminate the good voices and Fiona is good to go. That shouldn't be a problem for you. Right, Sal?"

"Uh..." Sally didn't know what to say. She could say 'No way', but she didn't want to anger Scourge and Mina, especially the former. Whenever Scourge gets pissed, there's bound to be blood (little to even a pond). Having no choice, Sally answered to her friends, "Alright. I'll do it."

"Good," Scourge replied back to Sally.

"But you haven't answered my last question."

"Oh, that. She's going to appear when all of the auditions are done," Mina informed the brunette.

_Of course. Fiona wants to look all fabulous for the grand finale, _Sally commented to herself as she looked at the door window where she spotted Knuckles, who arrived after realizing his sister wasn't in the nurse's office, doing a duet with Cream to a decent song.

_Knuckles: That's foolishness_

_And sometimes I wonder_

_Why we care so much about the way we look_

_And the way we talk, and the way we act_

_And the clothes we bought,how much that cost?_

_Does it even really matter?_

_Cause if life is an uphill battle_

_We all try to climb on the same old ladder_

_In the same boat with the same old paddle_

_**Why so shallow? I'm just asking**_

Sally's eyes grew wide in awe as she witnessed on how well Knuckles can rap. Yes, she heard him rap a few times, but she'd never realized that he can rap like a professional. Or rap better than the ones she has heard on the radio to be exact. If that's true for Knuckles, then the same thing can be applied to Tikal (minus the rap part, of course). Oh, how Sally wishes she didn't have to screw up Tikal's performance, along with her former friend's.

_Knuckles: ...Maybe one day we can all ball_

_Do it one time for the underdogs_

_From Kennith Shard (Bobby Ray) to all of y'all_

_Cream: I wish I was strong_

_Enough to lift, not one_

_But both of us._

_Both: Someday, I will be strong_

_Enough to lift, not one_

_But both of us_

Destroying the auditions will make Sally more guilty as hell, but she has no choice but to just to prevent Scourge from unleashing his rage. And if she has to, then maybe she can find another way to 'ruin' the auditions.

Yeah... Yeah... Now all Sally needs is some air horns, a sound effect app for her iPod touch, and small yet loud speakers.

* * *

~Gym (2:28 P.M)~

Throughout the entire hour in the gym, all of the students and a couple of the teachers had a chance to sing some of their favorite songs regardless of their singing ability. There were tons of good songs they singed such as "Hey, Jude" by the Beetles, "Love Story" by Taylor Swift, "Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry, and someone even singed "Gangnam Style" by Psy! In English! Either way, everyone is having a blast today just from the Karaoke segment!

But that's going to end in a few minutes as Sonic looked at the time on the computer screen. He quickly faded the music that's currently playing before he started to speak.

"Alright, everyone," Sonic started, "I hate to say this, but it looks like our time is up for the Karaoke segment."

Groans of disappointment followed from most of the students who didn't had the chance to sing.

"Hey, hey, hey. Don't get all depressed. Besides, we're all here because we want to hear 36 amazing people trying out to become a nominee for Homecoming Idol!" Sonic announced as tons of cheers surrounded the whole gym. Once most of the cheering has faded away, Sonic continued, "Now, as we all know, once all 36 singers perform, you guys will decide the top nine nominees in the end based on your loud cheers. So, you guys ready?"

Everybody cheered with excitement as they want the main event to happen.

"Alright! Now, starting things off is Ray Sampson singing 'Separate Ways' by Journey!" Sonic announced as a blond boy about Tails size dashed through the stage, catching a wireless microphone that Sonic tossed.

But before Ray can sing, he asked Sonic, "Hey! Can you provide the guitar for me?"

"Sure thing, buddy!" Sonic answered as he grabbed his blue and white guitar, along with the amp, that's behind him before he sprinted to where the short blond is. "Let's get started."

Ray nodded his head to Sonic's comment before the blue-haired DJ started to play the first few notes of the song. Even though it's the beginning of the song, everybody started to scream with joy, including Amy, as they get to see Sonic playing the electric guitar! And boy, was he good with the guitar! He hit the notes very easily, making the familiar melody for those who have heard the old song. Eventually, he started to sing once he spotted Sonic moving his thumb sideways, meaning it's time to perform.

_Here we stand_

_Worlds apart broken in two (two, two)_

_Sleepless nights_

_Losing ground_

_I'm reaching for you (you, you)_

_Feeling that it's gone_

_Can change your mind_

_If we can't go on_

_To survive the tide love divides_

As Ray singed the first verse of the song, there were some people that were starting to sing along to the song, mainly Vector and Wave's mother, Katie, with the latter singing a bit better than the former while she's taking pictures of Ray's amazing performance.

Once Katie finished taking the pictures she wants, she stared at Jet, who's standing next to her, and tapped his shoulder three times in order to get his attention before asking him, "Jet, have you seen my daughter anywhere?"

"What?!" Jet couldn't hear the question Katie asked due to the loud cheers and the performance that's going on.

"Have you seen Wave?" she repeated the question, only she said it a bit louder.

"Still can't hear you!" ...But not enough for Jet to catch on.

Katie soon took a few deep breaths before she did the unexpected to Jet.

"DO YOU KNOW WHERE WAVE IS?!" Katie yelled to the green-haired Filipino.

_Oh god, I knew she would ask that question. _Jet groaned in his thoughts. It's been at least more than a half-hour since Wave left the gym to deliver the flowers, and she hasn't returned! It doesn't take that long to do a simple task like that. What could be taking her so long anyway?! Maybe she decided to show Tikal the performances from her orb. That could be it.

"Uh... I don't know where she is," Jet came up with an answer. "I'm being honest."

"Oh, I see," said Katie, her voice filled with disappointment on the fact she can't see her daughter.

"But I'm sure she'll be here," Jet added as he payed attention to the performance.

_Someday love will find you_

_Break those chains that bind you_

_One night will remind you_

_How we touched and went our_

_Separate Ways_

_If he ever hurts you_

_True love won't desert you_

_You know I still love you_

_Though we touched and went our_

_Separate-_

HONK!

Hearing the unknown but loud noise, Ray stopped singing as the noise literally made him jump and drop the microphone to the ground, making a loud screeching noise that caused everyone to cover their ears. Sonic stopped playing the guitar once he heard the loud noise that's causing pain to everyone and decided to walk towards the mic that's close to the short blond. He picked it up before he decided to shake it a little to see if there's something wrong with it. Sonic knew that the mic had been working just an hour ago, so he wondered why it's acting weird at a moment like this.

"Hmm... I wonder..." Sonic commented to himself as he tapped the top of the mic.

By the fifth time he tapped the mic, the mysterious noise appeared again, causing Sonic to almost drop the mic to the floor. Thank god it didn't drop or else the 'other' noise from the mic would appear again.

"I may be no genius, but I don't think there's a microphone in the world that can create an air horn sound," said Sonic as he handed Ray the microphone, "Let's just continue with your performance, so start with the last few lines of the song. Okay?"

The short blond nodded to the DJ's/guitar player's suggestion as Sonic started to play the last cords of the song and Ray continued to sing again.

_If he ever hurts you_

_True love won't desert you_

_You know I still love-_

HONK!

The air horn noise appeared again, causing both Ray and Sonic to stop on what they were doing, looking up and down and all around to see if there's someone in the audience who currently has an air horn with them. However, that task proved to be difficult due to the fact most of the gym was pitch black, save for the spotlight that's on the middle of the basketball field and the side lights.

"Where the hell is that air horn noise coming from?!" Sonic yelled, moving his arms up and down like crazy while looking at the direction at where his friends were. "Guys, did one of you-"

"We don't have an air horn, Sonic," Tails answered to his friend. "To be honest, I have no clue where the noise is coming from."

"Really? Let me check."

As Sonic was about to sing something, the noise appeared again, causing Sonic to scream and tumble down to the floor, mic still in his hand. Sonic's clumsy actions caused most of the audience to burst into laughter, including his friends and even Ray himself. He can even see Tails and Amy laughing on the floor just based on what happened to their friend. Seeing everyone laughing, Sonic couldn't help but laugh at himself for at least forty seconds before he got up and realized there's more performances coming up after him.

"Crap! Hey Ray," Sonic called to the blond that's still giggling, "Finish this song for us!"

"Okay!" Ray nodded as he let out a small giggle from his mouth.

_You know I still love you_

_Though we touched and went our_

_Separate Ways!_

HONK!

Instead of freaking out, Ray yelled out, "Oh yeah!" over the noise before he bowed down to the crowd that's cheering over him for a job well done despite the air horn noise disturbing him a few times. He's sure going to be a nominee for Homecoming Idol.

As Ray waved the audience good-bye, Sonic grabbed his guitar before walking back to the DJ stand, getting ready to play the next song to the next person who's going to perform.

"Well, that noise was unexpected, but besides that, was that performance great or what?" Sonic asked everyone as the audience replied back with loud cheers and whistles. "Great! Then let's get..."

While Sonic is about to announce the next singer, Espio started to walk to the double doors of the gym. This caught the attention of not only Silver and Blaze but Knuckles as well, still wondering where Tikal is.

"Hey, Espio!" Knuckles called to Espio who stopped walking as he had his hands on the handle. "Where are you going? Aren't you going to watch the performances?"

Espio sighed before he answered, "I'm going to look for Tikal for you."

"Seriously?" Knuckles didn't know if he should slap himself or disagree with Espio once he said those words. The older sibling didn't have a chance to see his little sister after the incident in lunch and had no idea where Tikal is as of now. And after being stuck in the nurse's office for an hour, he really needed a break. "Are you sure about that, Espio?"

"Knuckles, don't worry about it," Silver said, putting his hand on Knuckles' shoulder.

"Yeah. It's been a long week for all of us, so let's just relax and let Espio find your sister for you. Alright?" Blaze suggested to the red-haired teen.

Sighing deeply, Knuckles said, "Alright, Espio. Just text me where she is. Got it?"

"Got it, Kennith," Espio nodded his head as he rushed out of the gym and to the hallways to find Tikal. Thank god Silver and Blaze convinced Knuckles to stay, or else there would have been trouble brewing.

Speaking of trouble brewing, underneath the bleachers, Sally is hiding there with a few air horns, a small speaker that has her iPod touch, plastic spiders and snakes that looks real and can squirt out apple juice from it's mouth (or back for the spider's case), and a water gun. Yes, she's the one that's responsible for the air horn noise during Ray's performance, but her goal isn't to ruin the performances (that would be Scourge's goal), her goal is to 'ruin' them by pulling pranks that will make everyone laugh, including the performer. And so far, it's been a huge success. The only time she won't pull these pranks is if the performer has a 'very' horrible voice (and by horrible, horrible like Mina's and Fiona's), she'll just leave them be and have the audience laugh. Good thing about this: she won't hurt anybody, including her old friends and Tikal. Bad thing: it'll piss off Scourge, Mina, and Fiona. But that won't bother her at all.

* * *

~Girl's Locker Room (2:55 P.M.)~

At least an hour had passed ever since Sally entered the girl's locker room and gave Tikal the necklace to her, and she's still thinking about what happened as she let Maria continue curling her hair and let Rouge apply light pink lipstick to her lips. Those words Sally said to Tikal, it sounded like she really meant them because Sally's nasty tone was absent. Maybe Maria was right; Sally changed. Tikal is sure of it, regardless if Rouge and Wave disagree with the blond's statement.

But now she shouldn't think about that. Right now, Tikal should be thinking about her performance that's coming up in about forty minutes or so. All the performances she has seen so far from Wave's orb all had some accident occurring in there. Those accidents: air horns, some boy screaming "Mommy!" like a scared little girl when he spotted a spider (though it died once he got squirted with apple juice), a censor sound effect played at certain parts of "Firework", and one kept on falling to the floor due to the fact it was slippery (or maybe it's because of the shoes). Either way, all of those accidents made Tikal so nervous! She's worried that she won't be a nominee for Homecoming Idol because of all those accidents that's happening to the performers. However, it seemed like the performers didn't mind the 'accidents'. In fact, they laughed at what happened to them during and after their performance. Sure, they jumped at surprise at the noises or realistic insects at first, but end up laughing when they realized it's just a harmless prank that's suppose to give everyone a good laugh.

After realizing the 'accidents' were meant to make everyone happy despite the screw-ups, Tikal released that thought away and now thought about how Knuckles' face will look like once he witnessed her singing: violet eyes gleaming with surprise and mouth dropping down to the floor. Not to mention Knuckles will ask his friends, "Did you guys knew that my sister can sing that well?"

And the one who will answer her brother's question would be Espio...

Wait! Speaking of Espio, Tikal remembered the letter that was attached to the bouquet of flowers that's from him! She still hasn't read it due to the fact that Rouge and Maria are still working on making her look beautiful...

Or about to be done since Tikal witnessed Maria turning off the power to the curling iron and spotted Rouge putting away most of her cosmetics in her make-up bag.

Once Rouge fully zipped her bag, Rouge announced, "Alright, sweetie. It took at least one hour-"

"One hour and two minutes," Wave, still in the locker room, corrected the ivory-haired cheer-leader. Wave could have left a long time ago, but knowing that her mom is in the gym (due to the bright camera flashes she has seen), she decided to stay here until they all leave.

"Okay. It took at least one hour _and two minutes_," Rouge added, giving an annoyed glare to Wave, "But I've got to say, all that time really payed off, and the results..." Rouge gave a slight pause before she made Tikal stand up in order for the orange-haired freshman to see how she looked. "The results are truly amazing!"

And god, Rouge is right. Tikal looks amazing! Her normally straight hair had transformed into delicate curls, her eyes looked a lot brighter with little light blue eye shadow and lightly applied mascara, and her lips looked shiny and kissable (it's true)! With the addition to the outfit she's currently wearing, along with the rose necklace, Tikal is more than ready to perform. Oh yeah.

"Ooh, my darling Tikal looks so dead gorgeous!" Rouge squealed before she looked at the other girls. "Don't you guys agree?"

"Oh yes!" Maria nodded her head.

Noticing that Wave is saying nothing about Tikal's appearance, Rouge cleared her throat loudly in order to get her attention.

"What?" Wave replied to Rouge before the cheer-leader pointed to Tikal, still staring at the mirror. Knowing that's a code for 'give her a nice comment', Wave told Tikal, "I'll be honest, all the guys will go crazy for you because you truly look pretty without looking like Queen Bitch."

Hearing that she looked amazing than Fiona, Tikal replied back, "Really?"

"Of course she means it!" Rouge answered Tikal's question.

"And now that the make up session is finally over, let's see the rest of the performances, shall we?" Maria suggested as they looked at the holographic screen, where they spotted a rusty blond haired girl, who's hair is in downward pigtails, wearing a pink tank top with a brown vest, skinny jeans, and brown boots. While Rouge, Maria, and Tikal didn't know that girl,Wave knew that girl currently singing is Bunnie Ramirez due to her metallic arm, not to mention she's in a few of her classes as well; mainly Algebra II and World History.

Right now, Bunnie is making the crowd go crazy with her deep yet strong voice to a well-known and well-meaning song.

_There's nothing wrong with loving you are_

_She said "Cause he made you perfect babe"_

_So hold your head up girl, and you you'll go far_

_Listen to me when I say_

_I'm beautiful in my way_

_Cause god makes no mistakes_

_I'm on the right track, baby_

_I was born this way!_

_Don't hide yourself in regret_

_Just love yourself and your set_

_I'm on the right track, back_

_I was born this way!_

KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Hello?" a male voice called, knocking the door a few more times. "It's me, Takeshi."

Eyes widening in surprise at the familiar voice, Tikal quickly ran to the door of the locker room in order to let Espio in. Yes, she was aware that she's letting a boy in the **girls **locker room, but it's Espio. He's not perverted and immature like some guys his age.

Once Espio entered the locker room, Tikal greeted him with, "Hi there, Takeshi! It's so nice to see you!

"Nice to see you too, Tikal," Espio replied back as he walked to where the remaining girls are, watching Bunnie's performance. "So, is Rouge going to force me out of here because-"

"No I'm not," Rouge answered as she waved Espio hello. "If we were just getting into our clothes, then-"

"Rouge, please don't say that!" Maria advised her friend, covering her mouth. "So, what are you doing here anyway?"

"I'm here to wish Tikal good luck on her performance," Espio started his answer as he stared at the bouquet that's on the counter, which still has the letter in there.

"Aw, that's so sweet of you," Tikal said.

"But I'm not going to just say 'Good luck' to you and leave."

"Eh?! Then what are you going to do?"

Espio said nothing to Tikal before he went to the counter and grabbed the letter off of the bouquet. He's going to do this. He made up his mind to do this in front of Tikal, not to mention one of his classmates and two juniors. But that didn't bother Espio one bit. He then quickly ripped open the blue envelope, which revealed a plain white card with gold glitter on the front.

But before he can open up the card, Espio looked at the holographic screen, where he spotted Bunnie laughing due to her voice sounding like a chipmunk halfway through the song, and asked, "Can anyone mute the sound of this for a while?"

"No problem, Espio," Wave volunteered to fulfill Espio's request, going to the corner and muting the performance by pressing a few buttons on her orb. "Okay. Now go ahead and do whatever you have to do."

Nodding his head to what Wave said, Espio took a deep breath before he finally opened the card and started to read. "_Tikal. You might be a little nervous about your performance, but I know you can do it. You're not only kind and beautiful, but you're strong. Strong enough to face your fears and slowly change into a more confident girl. With those traits, you'll shine bright on the spotlight. So, have fun and make everyone, especially Kennith, scream with joy. From, Takeshi Kaneko._"

Shortly after he read the letter, nobody, not even Rouge, utter a single word. There's just pure silence surrounding the entire locker room. Oh god. Was the letter too cheesy? Or maybe Tikal hated the letter? Well, he wanted an answer right now to see what everyone thought about the letter. Especially Tikal.

The silence broke when Maria exclaimed, "Oh my god! That's just so adorable!"

"Totally!" Rouge agreed with Maria. "I mean, I know Espio can write good cards, but damn! I never expected him to write the sweetest love letter I've ever heard."

"What...?!" Espio's cheeks blushed a bright red once he heard the words 'love letter' coming out of Rouge's mouth. He knows it's not that letter, so he tried to defend from Rouge's theory, "This letter is just a good-luck card, Rouge! Not a love letter! I swear to God!"

"Oh, sure it is," Rouge sarcastically replied.

"It's not a love letter!"

"Really? Because the way you read the card sounded like a love letter to me," Maria told Espio as she backing up for Rouge.

"Oh, god," Espio groaned as he face-palmed himself before the looked up to Wave, hoping she would defend for him. "Luana, do you think this letter is a love letter?"

"Hmm... As much as I would love to defend for ya, Esp, I gotta agree with Maria and bat-girl," Wave answered.

"Wha...?!"

Oh great. So Rouge, Maria, and even Wave thought this good-luck letter was a love letter! What would make them think this is a love letter to begin with?! Oh, he'll forget about that thought! Right now, he wanted to hear what Tikal thought about the letter. Hopefully, she won't think it's a love letter like the other three girls mentioned.

"So, Tikal," Espio started, cheeks still blushing pink, "Did you like the letter?"

"Do I like it?" Tikal repeated the question. She thought about it for a few seconds before she finally replied with, "Oh, yes I do! I love it! That's so sweet of you to do that for me!"

"Honest?"

"Yeah! Thank you, Takeshi," Tikal said as she gave him a hug that lasted for a few moments before the two heard Rouge laughing very loudly. They quickly broke the hug, thinking Rouge is laughing at them.

Luckily, she's not laughing at both Espio and Tikal. She's instead laughing at the holographic screen, now with the sound back on, showing a girl with pink hair and purple highlights who got her red casual dress all covered in water while performing.

_"Alright, who the hell did this?!" _the girl on the screen furiously asked the audience.

_"I don't know who did it, Julie-Su," _Amy's voice replied to the soaked performer. _"And speaking of which, none of us know who keeps doing these pranks."_

_ "Seriously?!"_

_ "Yeah, but you did have to admit, it's funny since you never expected that to happen," _Sonic replied before he burst out laughing again. Eventually, Julie-Su ended up laughing as well since she had to agree with Sonic. She thought the performance would go perfectly, but never expected to be squirted by water.

While Espio finds this a little funny, he's worried that the accidents might happen to Tikal during the performance. Yes, all of the accidents were all hilarious and small, but that's just the beginning. What if the prankster decides to pull the cruelest prank to Tikal during the performance? Well, that's just a thought. It may happen or it may not. Guess he has to wait and see.

* * *

~Back at the Gym (3:30 P.M.)~

It's been one hour since the auditions had started, and 34 out of the 36 people have already performed. Some of them were just horrible due to their singing voice, but for the most part, there were some great singers that made the crowd go crazy. And throughout most of the performances, there were 'accidents' happening everywhere, but at least it didn't cause harm to anyone. It made everyone laugh their butts off, even the performer. But somehow, it only happened to those who sound pretty decent, not to those who sound like Fiona, though to a lesser extent.

Right now, everyone is watching Nicole making the crowd go crazy with her singing a very powerful song with her powerful voice despite being constantly being sprayed with crazy string covering her black braids and purple casual dress.

_The scars of your love remind me of us_

_They keep me thinking that we almost had it all_

_The scars of your love, they leave me breathless_

_I can't help feeling_

_We could have had it all_

_Rolling in the deep_

_You had my heart inside of your hand_

_And you played it to the beat_

While watching the performance, Silver felt his phone vibrate on his front pocket and he quickly pulled it up to see who could be calling/texting him at a time like this. Once his screen lit up, it read "_One text message from Takeshi 'Espio' Kaneko"_. Silver can understand why Espio sent a text message instead of calling him because Knuckles is right next to him! Luckily, Knuckles was just enjoying the performance, he didn't notice the small light that's coming from Silver's phone.

However, Tails, Amy, Cream, and Blaze noticed the small light, and decided to gather around Silver to see what's on his screen while giving him enough room.

"Silver, what is it?" Tails asked the ivory-haired teen.

"I've just got a text from Espio," Silver informed his friends as he went to the inbox to check the message.

"What does it say?" both Amy and Cream added, wanting to know what Espio sent.

"I'm getting it right now. Just hold up for a few seconds," Silver replied as he finally got the message.

_Tikal is about to go next. I want the spotlight completely dark, and you and Barbara to present Tikal before she preforms. Please. Tikal really wants to make this moment special, especially her brother._

_-Takeshi Kaneko_

Understanding the plan Espio had, Silver put his phone back in his pocket before he grabbed Blaze's hand as they walked to the DJ stand where Sonic is searching for the instrumental to "Secret Princess" in the laptop. The azure-haired DJ spotted Silver and Blaze standing next to the DJ stand and decided to have a little chat with them once he found the instrumental he needs.

"Hey guys!" Sonic greeted his two friends, "What's up?"

"Well, we were wondering if you can do a favor for us," Blaze said, remembering the plan Espio has sent to Silver.

"What kind of favor?"

"Can you let Blaze and I present Tikal when she arrives?" Silver requested to his friend.

"Huh?" Unfortunately, Sonic didn't know what Silver meant by that.

Clearing his throat, Silver added, "Espio requested that we do it so it can be special for both Tikal and Knuckles."

"Not to mention that we need the spotlight completely dark after this performance," Blaze popped the other information to Sonic. "So, what do you say, Sonic?"

"Will you let us do it?"

Wanting to make this moment special for the Shard siblings. Hmm...

After thinking about it for a few seconds, Sonic decided, "Alright. I'll let you guys do it."

"Really? Thank you, Sonic!" both Silver and Blaze exclaimed.

"No problem. It's the least I can do for a lovely couple like you."

"Sonic!" the two yelled at the DJ in an annoyed tone. Jeez, they're not a couple! Just friends for crying out loud.

Shortly after the brief conversation ended on a good yet awkward tone, Nicole's performance just ended, with the audience cheering like crazy on how well she singed. Not to mention she didn't seemed bother with the crazy string being all over her hair right now.

"Alright! Thank you Nicole for that amazing performance out there!" Sonic told the messy performer as she walked out of the stage while giving her a thumbs up. He then turned off the lights of the spotlight, causing the audience to groan with disappointment. Knowing that the audience would react like that, he quickly said, "Now, now. Don't get all upset on me. It's not over yet. We just have one more performance for you guys-" Sonic stopped mid-sentence in order to let the audience cheer like wild animals before it died out, "Anyway, like I was saying, we have one more performance and we wanted this to be special because it's the last one. But I'm not going to present this time."

"Huh?" the audience questioned in confusion.

"I'm leaving this to my two good friends, Vennie and Blaze!" Sonic announced as he removed his wireless headset mic from his head before he left the DJ stand and passed by Silver and Blaze.

The two were greeted with a loud applause from the audience as they spotted Silver and Blaze, though most of it went to the former as most of them were still mixed on the latter, mainly about her 'cursed' powers. And did it bother Blaze? A little, sure, but not too much. It's a day where everyone should feel happy, so she's not letting those people bother her.

Once the two put on the headsets that Sonic had left, Silver started to say, "Uh... Hi there everyone."

"Yes. Hello there," Blaze greeted the crowd. "You're wondering why we're up here and not Sonic."

"Well, like Sonic mentioned, we wanted this performance to be special not because it's the last one. This last performance is dedicated to Knuckles," Silver answered as he put the spotlight on Knuckles who's currently confused as to what's going on.

"Uh... What?" Knuckles wondered. "Is it somebody I know?"

"Ooh, yes it is, Mr. Kennith," Cream answered Knuckles' question. "In fact, you know her very well, you can write an essay about her personality."

"And it's not Rouge," Amy said as she's trying to hold her laughter.

"Then who is it?" Knuckles demanded.

"Well, we're not suppose to say," Silver told the older Shard sibling, "But she mentioned that..."

As everyone had their eyes on Knuckles on the bright spotlight, Cream heard some voices behind her since she's near the double doors. Not to mention she spotted three figures quickly swooping by the hallways. Due to the speed the three mysterious figures were going, it was difficult for Cream to identify them, but she swore that one of them was Mina, holding what seemed to be pliers. If it's true, then what's Mina going to do with pliers in the first place anyway?

Noticing that Cream is looking at the window of the double doors, Tails ignored on what's going on and asked Cream, "Is everything alright, Cream?"

"Uh... Not really, Mr. Tails," Cream replied to Tails. "I think I saw Mina with pliers, along with two other figures. I'm worried that whatever they have planned, it's not going to be good."

"Are you sure about it, Cream?"

"Yes! I'm sure, Mr. Tails! It might happen during Tikal's performance!"

"Eh? Are you..." Tails thought about what Cream had said. Why would somebody sabotage Tikal's performance anyway? Especially Mina and two other figures (maybe Fiona and Scourge).

He's going to think about that later. Right now, Silver and Blaze are about to get Tikal into the spotlight once they announced her name.

"Alright, everyone!" Silver and Blaze started. "Now, let us introduce you to our last performer! Give it up for-"

The two were going to announce Tikal's name when all of a sudden, all of the lights instantly went out, causing the entire gym to be pure pitch black and everyone started to scream like crazy since they couldn't see anything! And what's worse, the laptop has shut down, meaning that the song "Secret Princess" can't be played at all! Great, just great. All of this happening before Tikal's performance is just...

"Well, this sucks," Silver groaned on what just happened.

Indeed, Silver. Indeed.

* * *

**Author's Note: Oh god. This sure took a lot of work to do, but it's finally here! Yea! And I'm leaving you guys in a cliffhanger! Will Tikal ever get to impress her brother with the power out? Well, you'll figure that out in the next chapter!**

**For names, I'm going with Mina since it's been a while since we've seen her. Her first name is German for 'love'; reflecting how much she loves the things popular people do (fashion, gossip, singing, etc.). Her last name Moore has multiple meanings in English, mainly dark-complexion (very mean).**

**Songs Used:  
**

**"Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen (Tails)**

**"Both of Us" by B.O.B. ft. Taylor Swift (Knuckles and Cream)**

**"Separate Ways" by Journey (Ray)**

**"Born This Way" by Lady Gaga (Bunnie)**

**"Rolling in The Deep" by Adele (Nicole)**

**If you liked this chapter, please leave a review!**

**Later! ;D**


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